Dark Campus
by MasamuneKunimasa
Summary: A story I wrote for myself and some friends, starring us, in a Left 4 Dead environment. 4 students from Kelowna, BC must escape town amidst the Infected. Rated T for violence and language, seeing as though we're a bit of a vulgar bunch.
1. Chapter 1

**Dark Campus**

"They're Getting their …in Pain!"

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Left 4 Dead or any of its content such as the infected, its characters, etc. Furthermore, the characters in this story are real-life people and the City of Kelowna and its associated places are real, save for Morningwood Retirement Home and the OBRU. The events in this story are completely fictional and do not reflect the respective institutions and organizations included. Left 4 Dead is a copyright of Valve and all firearms are copyrights of their respective makers.

**Chapter 1 – The Apartments**

One week after infection…

Great. Just great.

Here I am, holed up in my apartment bedroom, clutching a pistol and waiting for a solution that will probably never come. The infection had struck exactly one week ago and ever since I've been taking shelter in my – actually my Mom's – apartment. After the first day of infection, which saw it spread like wildfire across Kelowna, helicopters flew over the city, telling residents to take shelter in their homes, block windows and doors, and await a relief convoy from the Canadian Forces. Luckily the power in the apartment wasn't _completely_ out; every so often I'd be able to keep the lights on or cook or even turn on the TV to watch the news.

Of course, when my hometown's gone straight to hell, the only thing being reported was the carnage caused by the spreading virus. Some speculated that it was a mutated strain of rabies and that it was being spread by bites. Luckily I hadn't come into contact with any infected. Even better, my family was out of town on vacation; my mother and father had both coincidentally decided to leave town for two weeks for Vancouver and my brothers had gone with them. Of course, I made the decision to stay in town and work; I always knew that working for the man would end up killing me one day.

I guess on the bright side, I had the apartment to myself.

One night on the news I saw that the Canadian Forces had managed to set up a base in the Apple Bowl stadium amidst all the chaos, something they did the last time they were in town to deal with the mountain fire back in 2003. However, due to the massive numbers of infected, the forces at the Apple Bowl couldn't reach any homes in the surrounding areas and they were supposedly overrun. Reinforcements were supposed to arrive through the Westside and take the survivors out to the Kelowna airport to be evacuated. Unfortunately the infection had also spread over to the Westside and there was no news on when the convoy was going to arrive. They were supposed to be here yesterday. Knowing how zombie apocalypses usually go, it was probably safe to bet that we were on our own.

After coming to the realization that I was going to be on my own, I had grabbed a knife from the kitchen, moved the barricade I had built from my couch from the front door, and ventured outside briefly to see what the situation was. When I got outside, things seemed worse than I thought. The road was completely clogged with traffic; those that came to the same conclusion were probably trying to drive out to the airport on their own and see if there was any hope of getting out of town.

So much for driving out on my own.

Going outside hadn't completely been in vain though; on the ground lay the corpses of a number of fallen RCMP officers. They still had their pistols and magazines attached to their utility belts and were lifeless. Taking no chances, I gave a good, hard stomp to the head of each one in case they were infected waiting to pounce and had grabbed a pistol and some spare magazines, five in all. I also managed to grab a utility belt and some spare magazine pouches to wear around my waist. Armed with a chance but also consumed with fear, I had retreated back to my room to plan out my next actions.

That was yesterday evening. Thankfully, I didn't have to use the pistol at all and I was surviving on a steady diet of leftover steamed rice and canned salmon. After thinking for a few hours, I decided that it was best to try and contact friends in Kelowna and see if any of them were able to meet up and get out of town together.

On my nightstand, my cell phone's LCD screen told me that it was fully charged. I unplugged it from the wall and immediately turned it on. That annoying song played every time I turned it on; I never did figure out how to stop that theme from playing. No matter. I flipped through my contact list on a mission to find the one person who I knew would be able to help. As soon as I got to the Js in my contact list, his name was the first one o come up. I made the call.

The phone rang a number of times and I was getting tense. _Please pick up. Please pick up. Please pick up_. After the fifth ring, I was greeted with a voice.

"Hey buddy."

It was Jarret.

"Jarret, where are you?" I asked.

"I'm just driving into town," he replied. "The bridge is pretty clear and the highway is as well. Looks like people were too busy driving north to get out of town."

"That's strange," I said. "You'd think people would try to get out through the Westside."

"Yeah," Jarret agreed. "Apparently the convoy that was supposed to come yesterday was attacked and it's blocking Highway 97 leading out of the Westside. People in Kelowna are pretty much trapped. Where are you?"

"I'm at my apartment."

"Don't you mean your Mom's apartment?"

"Ass."

Jarret laughed. "I'll come get you. From what I know the roads by your place are relatively clear save for a few cars here and there, but I'll be able to swerve and reach you. Are the side roads clear?"

Luckily my apartment had a view of the surrounding side roads. "You bet. I won't be able to come get you at the side entrance though."

"That's fine," Jarret replied. "Oh…you're not gonna guess who's with me."

My silence must've been his cue to pass the phone to somebody else in his truck. After a few seconds, I was greeted with another voice.

"Hey." It was Riley, who tended to call himself by the name "Lifewinner."

"Riles!" I greeted.

"Don't call me dat, sucka. You know I don't go by dat name."

I face-palmed. "Right. Sorry. _Lifewinner_. How do you like Kelowna now that you're back in town?"

"A bit of an improvement. But on da bright side I won' have to worry 'bout work."

"Yeah, me too. Too bad we can't get paid by the body count."

"Ha ha. We'll see you in a bit. Sit tight, aight?"

It was nice to hear the voices of friends, but where were we going to go? The highways leading both ways out of town were completely blocked and nothing could get in or out unless we left by air. Hopefully when the guys got here we'd be able to find a way out of here.

Suddenly the lights went out. Damn. I had managed to get power for an hour and a half but it was getting close to seven at night. The darkness would come soon and make our lives all that much harder. I placed the flashlight I had at my bedroom's doorway and kept it on. The light illuminated the door and barricade. For some reason it made me feel much better.

The time passed without event. Unfortunately, it seemed to drag on forever. To keep myself busy I practiced aiming my pistol in the dark. In my hands I held an RCMP-issue Smith and Wesson 5946, chambered for a 9mm round and carrying ten rounds per magazine. I kept the safety on and no round chambered, aiming and practicing my pistol grip for when the time came when I needed to put an infected down fast.

After what seemed like an eternity, my phone rang. When I picked up, Jarret was on the line.

"Yo. We're at the front door."

"What do you want me to do, buzz you in? Break the glass and come up. You know which apartment I'm in. Be careful though; there's no power at the moment. Knock on my door and I'll let you in."

While the boys were making their way up I took the time to move the couch I had used to block the door. After a minute I heard a knock at the door. I unlocked the door and let the two guys in.

"Wanna get that light out of my face?" Jarret hissed as he shielded himself from my excessively-bright flashlight. I complied, picking the unbelievably bright flashlight up off the floor.

Jarret and Riley walked into the apartment and after I had locked the door, we moved the couch back to block it. Jarret was wearing a black hoodie and jeans while Riley was clad in jeans and a red and black plaid shirt that you'd expect to find at a lumberjack store. Furthermore, Riley was wearing his trademark grey toque and permanent grin. Each of them was also carrying the silver Smith and Wesson 5946 that RCMP officers used, along with a utility belt to hold spare magazines on each of their waists.

"Hey Riles, nice shirt," I sneered. "Did you just walk off the set of the Red Green show?"

"Oh you're funny," Riley said without smiling. "And remember, it's Lifewinner, goddammit!"

We sat at the kitchen table after I had hung the flashlight from the overhead chandelier. Good thing I had a good supply of batteries.

So what's the situation?" I asked as we sat down under the light of the hanging flashlight.

"Well my truck died when I pulled in," Jarret explained with a sigh. "So unless you've got a car that works, we're pretty much fucked."

"My car's got three-quarters of a tank," I said. "So we'll be able to drive _somewhere_, but that somewhere is exactly what we need to figure out."

"We def' not gonna to be able to git out by takin' Highway 97," Riley added. "I'm sure you know dat both ways be blocked. Furthamo, Highway 33 is blocked by traffic tryin' to leave town."

"Flying would probably be the only decent way out." Jarret said.

"How we gonna git outta town if there be no helis to fly us out?" Riley asked. There was no reply.

The situation was truly in the shitter. For the past few years of my life I had wanted to get out of Kelowna at the earliest possibility and had failed a number of times, but I was determined not to die in this place.

"I have an idea," Jarret said after a moment of silence. "Why don't we go to the Apple Bowl and hop on a military radio?"

"Wasn't da Apple Bowl overrun, sucka?" Riley asked.

"It was," Jarret replied. "But we'll have access to military weapons once we get there so we'll be able to handle ourselves. Maybe rip a rifle or two off a corpse to hold us while we bust in?"

The three of us contemplated this for a moment. It seemed pretty solid since there was no other alternative.

"Okay," I began to say. "It looks like we'll be heading to the Apple Bowl. But we'll need someone who knows how to operate military equipment in order to get a message out."

"You be da military geek, so why can't choo, sucka?" Riley sneered.

"I know theory and military sciences, but not how to use complicated communications equipment."

"I have another idea!" Jarret exclaimed. I swear I could've seen the light bulb appear above his head when he said that. "I'll give a friend of mine a call. He'll definitely still be alive."

"What's this friend like?" I wondered aloud.

Jarret began dialing his cell phone. "You'll like him. He's a World War Two veteran; he fought the Nazis until D-Day and then for some odd reason ended up in the Pacific fighting you people. If he followed the order to stay at home, he'll be at Morningwood."

"World War Two veteran?" I cried. "Morningwood? That's a senior's assisted living center! What can some goddamn frail old man do for us?"

"Don't worry," Jarret said. "He may be in his eighties, but he fights as hard as guys our age, not to mention he looks our age. He's great with a gun, although he does have a bit of a dislike for Japanese."

"Figures," I said as I scratched the back of my head. "Well, at least Morningwood is close."

"So we nab him then raid the army base," Jarret concluded. "That'll give us enough manpower and guns to make it out of this god-forsaken place in one piece."

"Speaking of which," I said as Jarret got up and talked on his phone. "Have you guys heard anything new about the infection?"

"I heard da virus' infection capabilities died out a few days ago," Riley explained. "Da infected be a shiftin' they actions from infecting as many as possible to killin' anythin' dat's not a zombie."

"So there'll be no trouble if we get bitten." I said with relief. Looks like I won't have to wear long-sleeved clothing and a terrorist mask and goggles to avoid fluid contact. I wasn't exactly decked out for a zombie apocalypse; I wore my typical black SWAT boots, black cargo pants, my favourite Anti-Flag t-shirt, and my gasmask Anti-Flag hoodie. That outfit pretty much showed off the diversity of my wardrobe.

"Yeah mang."

Jarret finished on the phone. "He's holed up in his room at Morningwood. If we can get to him we'll be able to have a fourth for some extra firepower and have a chance at working that military shit."

"Great." I said. The power came back on at that instant. Well-timed, Lady Luck. "I'll go load up on supplies and we'll go fetch the man. Wait here."

I got up, swiped the flashlight off the chandelier, and raced to my bedroom to gather what I needed in case the power went back off. Up in my closet lay an olive green tactical vest, complete with magazine and utility pouches that I was given from one of my old jobs. I strapped the vest on and adjusted it to fit snugly, the tough cordura material hugging my body. I grabbed my car keys and habitually grabbed my wallet, although I doubt I'd have to present my driver's license or have to use my debit or credit cards. I went to the kitchen closet and started grabbing whatever supplies I could and stuffed them into my vest pouches; I grabbed extra batteries for the flashlight, duct tape, and other things that would help us out. Any spare magazines for my pistol I transferred from my belt to my vest for easier access. After a few minutes of rummaging, I was ready to go. We each duct taped our flashlights to our pistols and took a moment to get acquainted with aiming our guns with the new weight attached.

The three of us moved the couch blocking the door and got ready to leave. Jarret and Riley left first and covered the hallway as I took a moment to say goodbye to the apartment. It was hard to believe that my Mom and I had called this apartment home for the past three years; it was clean and provided an excellent living space but the time flew by so quickly. Even though I'll be glad to get out of town, I knew I'd miss the place.

Just as I walked out the door the power went out again. Figures. Lady Luck always was promiscuous. The hallway was pitch black save for our flashlights. Jarret walked left side, I walked on right, and Riley walked middle, turning every few steps to watch our backs. The hairs on my body stood up and chills went down my spine. It was time to put all that self training to good use once we got outside, but I was still scared at being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse no matter how cool I said it would be in my various conversations with fellow geeks and gamers.

Out the hallway door, down the short flight of stairs, and out the side exit we went. Jarret walked out first, Riley second, and myself third. Once we hit the outside, we were greeted by a darkening blue sky that told us night would be coming soon. It was barely five minutes past seven and the light was still good, so at least we had a little time.

"Shit! Zombies!"

It was Jarret. He had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and had brought his pistol up and had it aimed at a small group of infected running towards us from the road. I had never seen the bastards this close before; they had white eyes that seemed to glow at close range and poor lighting. They spoke in snarls and growls, slathering at the mouth and running at us full-speed with their fists cocked to beat us down. Their higher brain functions were totally gone; all that mattered was stealing the life from us. A few of them were former RCMP but most of them were everyday people in common clothes.

Jarret and Riley opened fire with their pistols. Jarret knelt down to give Riley a clear field of fire. I looked to my right. The parking lot was devoid of infected.

"Cover me!" I yelled as I jumped the railing. I landed on the concrete pathway leading to the parking area and ran as fast as I could. Adrenaline kept my legs moving; I had no idea I could run that fast. I was never a person that was in top shape. While I had done karate and CQC training for over twelve years, I was never much of a runner, having taken up the practice only a few months prior. My feet hammered into the pavement and my heart pounded. I pointed my pistol to my right to clear the small sheltered parking area to my right. I pointed it forward to make sure nothing came at me from behind the large blue garbage bins. I aimed it to my left to clear the main parking shelter. All clear.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Jarret and Riley rushing behind me, turning every so often to fire their pistols at the rushing group of infected. More had come to join the original group and they eagerly pursued their prey, hissing and beckoning for their victims. I got my keys out and unlocked the door to my Ford Taurus, unlocked the other doors with the press of a switch, and started the car. I silently thanked myself for deciding to back the car into the stall the last time I had come home.

As my two friends rushed to my car I got up and started firing my pistol into the coming horde. I kept my grip tight and used the roof of my car to rest my arms. The Smith and Wesson opened up and threw rounds into the nearest infected. Two 9mm rounds caught it high in the chest, but it wouldn't go down.

"Shit!" I hissed to myself as I put two more rounds into the infected to down it. I had doubts that the 9mm round would do jack all to the infected; it seemed as though my suspicions were true.

With one brisk motion I shifted my aim to the next, fired four times, and put it down. The next one closed in and I fired off my last two rounds into it, causing it to stumble back a few steps.

"Hurry!" I yelled as I slid a new magazine into the pistol and ripped back on the slide to chamber the first round. As soon as my pistol was ready I aimed and sent four rounds into the next closest infected rushing at us. Luckily, Jarret and Riley had ducked down to let me fire at the infected. As the distance was closed, Riley climbed into the back seat on the passenger's side and Jarret got in the passenger seat beside me. While I climbed back in, the two opened up with their own pistols.

"Let's go!" I cried as I slammed my door shut and put the car into drive. After one last shot each, both guys closed their doors and I slammed my foot on the gas pedal. There were still a fair number of infected coming at us, but I managed to knock them off to the side as I turned the wheel and headed for the road. As I drove off, I saw the remaining infected slow down and stop their pursuit through the rearview mirror.

I wiped some sweat from my brow. "I'm glad we made it."

"This time, you Asians are allowed to be bad drivers and hit people!" Jarret sneered as we pulled onto a side road. At least morale was high.

"Man we gonna knock dem infected once we get to da Apple Bowl." Riley added as he reloaded his pistol.

"I hope so," I said. I turned to Jarret. "This friend of yours had better be alive. Otherwise we're pretty much fucked."

"Of course he's alive," Jarret replied. "You think a vulgar old man who can kick ass would croak so easily?"

"Is it who I think it is?" I asked.

You know that grin people do, where the ends of their mouth go up to their eyes and they nod with their eyes squinted? That "Aaww yeah" nod? Well, Jarret gave me that face. I instantly knew _exactly_ who he was talking about.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Left 4 Dead or any of its content such as the infected, its characters, etc. Furthermore, the characters in this story are real-life people and the City of Kelowna and its associated places are real, save for Morningwood Retirement Home and the OBRU. The events in this story are completely fictional and do not reflect the respective institutions and organizations included. Left 4 Dead is a copyright of Valve and all firearms are copyrights of their respective makers.

**Chapter 2 – Morningwood**

We turned on to the road and I sped up towards Morningwood as quickly as I could. The road was relatively clear; the occasional car or two blocked the lanes but driving up on the sidewalk proved to be an appropriate solution. Of course, the main road was way too clogged for us to enter Morningwood through the front; we'd have to park on the side and climb up over the fence in order to get in.

I pulled the car to a stop and the three of us climbed out. Luckily there was no sign of the infected around. As we peered over the fence we could see that the lights inside were completely out. It was actually a pretty nice place; the area inside the fence had stone walkways, lush green grass, and right behind the fence was a row of neatly-kept bushes that stood taller than the fence itself. The building itself was colored with earth tones of dark browns and had walls made of rock siding; one would think that the place was for luxury living rather than retirement. After a quick scan of the surrounding area, the three of us climbed over the fence, Jarret in lead, Riley second, and myself last.

I kept my pistol ready, scanning my surroundings as we walked up to a side window. As we came up to the window, Jarret looked in and swept his flashlight across the room. All clear. Unfortunately we'd have to break the glass to get in and if there were any infected around that we didn't see, they'd be on us before we could climb through. But it was either make some noise and grab a fourth gunman or leave a friend behind and try and make it out ourselves. At least we'd die saving a friend and not holed up in our homes.

Jarret looked to me and I nodded. He then turned back to the window and smashed it with his pistol, sending pieces of glass falling to the ground and sending a great _crash_ out as far as the ear could hear. Nothing stirred in the building's yard. Good. Jarret was first through the window, I went second, and Riley came in last.

Inside, the room was pitch black save for the light from our flashlights. We navigated around the furniture in the room that lay about like landmines and came up to the door leading into the hallway. I walked up and aimed my pistol straight at the door.

"As soon as you open the door," I explained to Jarret. "I'll go left and you go right. Riley, you come through and head straight for the far wall and check both ways. Cool?"

"Got it." Jarret said.

"Aight." Riley nodded.

Jarret turned the doorknob and pulled the door open. I rushed out, turning left and keeping my pistol aimed down the hallway. Nothing moved in the dark hallway; all I saw when I shined my light around were corpses and blood on the floor. It looked like something went on a killing spree in the place; a number of bodies had their abdomens clawed out and their ribs were exposed. Some even had their necks completely crushed. I shuddered to think about what we could be up against. I could sense Jarret moving behind me and saw Riley out of the corner of my eye move to the wall.

"Which way do we go?" I whispered.

Jarret thought for a moment. "Your way. There should be a stairway leading up to the second floor at the end of the hallway."

"All right. Let's go."

We crept down the hallway, carefully stepping over the bodies that lay on the floor. No sense in disturbing the dead. Once we reached the door at the end conveniently marked _Stairs_, I explained a new drill. We would do the same; I would aim at the door in case anything was on the other side, Jarret would open and follow me through, and Riley would watch our backs in case anything came up behind us. On the count of three, Jarret opened the door, I checked the stairway, and told them it was all clear. As we shuffled into the stairwell I could hear growling behind us, so we instantly stopped and watched.

I kept my pistol aimed at the stairs above. Jarret and Riley both watched the now-closed door leading into the stairwell. The growling behind us got louder. My heart started to beat faster and faster; I started to fear that we were going to face something much worse than a common infected. The seconds went by but fortunately as they did, the growling slowly died away. Whatever was making the growls must have lost interest and gone away.

"Let's get the fuck out of here!" I hissed as I tapped Jarret on the shoulder. He nodded and we started climbing the stairs. As soon as we reached the second floor door, we planned out a new drill. The plan was to have me go through and left, Jarret right, and Riley center with all three of us forming a wall of fire down the hall in case we needed it.

The same three count went down and the door was opened. As soon as it opened, I knew that our plan was in the shitter; over a dozen or so infected were down the hall from where I was standing and they looked extremely violent. It was better to take them out by funneling them towards the doorway.

"Let's take 'em out from here!" I cried as I knelt down and raised my pistol. Jarret knelt down beside me in the open doorway and braced the door open with his bodyweight. Riley stood behind us and raised his gun.

The infected moved in. They rushed us, slobbering and speaking in their hisses and snarls as they sprinted and reached out. Jarret was the first to open fire. As soon as he fired off his first round, Riley and I added our own fire. The pitch-black hallway was filled with the sounds of gunfire, the light of muzzle flashes, and the smell of dead bodies and gunpowder. As the infected closed in they were cut down by our wall of pistol fire. The first few were cut down as they took a volley and a few missed bullets drove into the infected coming up behind them. The muzzle flashes made the whole ordeal move like it was in slow motion, the flashes from our pistols acting as miniature strobe lights.

"Reloading!" I yelled as I slid the empty magazine out of my pistol. The rounds from the 5946 pistols weren't doing the kind of damage that we needed. As soon as I reloaded I decided to try an idea that had come to my mind. I adjusted my aim downwards and lined my pistol up with the legs of a charging infected. I pulled the trigger twice, and sent two rounds into the knee of the zombie. It went down with a loud _thud_ that could be heard over the gunfire.

"Aim for the knees!" I cried as I fired. Jarret reloaded his pistol and fired his pistol low. Riley did the same. It worked! We now only had to use two rounds to take down one of those goddamn zombies instead of four. The only problem was that as soon as they were down, they would start to slowly crawl towards us, their white eyes seeming to be filled with hatred. No matter. As soon as the rushing horde was cut down, we finished them off with a single shot to the head each.

The smoke settled and the entire battle stopped. After only a minute of fighting, we had depleted most of our ammunition and were dying to stock up.

"C'mon!" Jarret said as he got up. "We're close! It's just this way!"

Again we moved in a line. I walked left, Riley center, and Jarret on the right wall. Every few steps Riley would check over his shoulder or turn and watch the hallway behind us. This hallway was much like the floor below; corpses littered the floor and blood and human entrails lay splattered about. The smell was unbearable.

After a minute or so of walking, we came up to a door. Jarret walked up and rapped on the door a few times while Riley and I watched our backs. Nothing stirred in the hallway while we waited for the door to open. After what seemed like an eternity, a voice greeted us from behind the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Jarret! Brian and Riley are with me!"

The door was unlocked and we hurried inside the room. Inside, it was jam-packed with boxes and the furniture had been propped up against the door to act as a makeshift barrier, although it had been pushed aside to open the door. On the cream-colored wall to my right I saw an Albertan flag and a gigantic Edmonton Oilers banner. On the other wall, a large map of Canada was hung up. There were only three words on the map: "Alberta," with the province colored blue, and "Not Alberta," with the rest of Canada colored red.

And standing in front of us was a man who looked to be in his thirties, with brown hair styled into a fohawk, and clad in a black hoodie and jeans. A cigarette protruded out of the side of his mouth.

Landon.

"What's up, boys?" Landon said with a grin. That tended to be his opening line every time I saw him. He also gave that shit-eating grin every time he was amused.

"So _you're_ the old man Jarret had mentioned." I exclaimed as we entered the room and shut the door behind us.

"Old man?" Landon exclaimed. "I may have fought my share of battles fighting the goddamn Nazis and the Nipponese, but I ain't some frail old man!"

"Right." I sneered. "Who was older again, you or Terry?"

"Nice vest," Landon retorted as he gave me the head-to-toe. "Straight from the wardrobe of a lonely nerd!"

"So!" Jarret interrupted. "How're you holding up, Landon?"

Landon gestured to the boxes piled up by the far wall. "I got plenty of supplies here for the time being. I tell you, the RCMP boys that came around here sure brought a lot of useful stuff!"

"How'd you get alla dis in da room, foo?" Riley asked.

"I ran out and stripped the corpses," Landon explained. "For the past two days I've gathered a shitload of ammunition and a few spare guns as well."

"How come you never tried to get out on your own?" Jarret asked.

"You see those special infected moving around, son?" Landon said. "You're fucked if they get you and you're alone. That, plus the guys I was gonna leave with ended up getting killed."

"You were plannin' on leavin?" Riley said.

"Yeah, but those goddamn zombies got to the guys before we could get out of the building. I had to run back here to stay sheltered so that I could get some help. None of it came though, until you guys arrived."

"You were planning on staying holed up until the military came…just like me." I said.

"Right." Landon nodded. "So what's the plan?"

Jarret explained our course of action. "We're heading to the Apple Bowl so we can radio the military for help."

"Help's not gonna come if the highways leading into town are blocked," Landon pointed out.

"True," Jarret agreed. "But they won't necessarily have to send help by ground."

"So we're just gonna gamble on radioing them and getting help?" Landon said.

Jarret shrugged. "Better than doing nothing."

"We'll need you to operate the equipment on the base," I explained. "Seeing as though you're a veteran, you should be able to use that kind of equipment."

Landon thought for a moment then finally agreed. "You're right. It's a pretty big gamble, but at least we'll be able to contact someone and possibly get some help instead of getting killed waiting for that convoy that'll never come." He gave us a look over and saw that we were ill-equipped to wage a war against hordes of zombies. After shaking his head, he motioned for us to gather by the boxes. "Looks like you guys could use some extra firepower. No worries. I have a spare shotgun and two SMGs for ya."

Landon was carrying a pump-action shotgun. If I wasn't mistaken, it was a Remington 870. Lucky bastard. I hoped that the SMGs were something decently powerful.

Landon ripped one of the boxes open and pulled out a Heckler and Koch MP5A4. Most of the boxes that he had filled were cardboard boxes. They were probably from when he moved in to Morningwood, since they were labeled with words like "Dishes" and "CDs." He tossed me the MP5.

I held the weapon in my hands and gave it a quick inspection. Solid buttstock. Four-position safety selector. Underbarrel flashlight. Swish! The only downside was that it loaded thirty of the same 9mm rounds that my pistol took; it wouldn't do much against the infected, but at least I had more ammo. A magazine was already loaded and the weapon simply needed to be cocked and taken off safe. I'd wait until we moved out to do those things.

Jarret took the other MP5 and Riley was handed a Remington 870 shotgun. Two shotguns and two submachine guns on the team. Perfect.

"Load up, guys." Landon said as he opened up more boxes, revealing MP5 magazines, loose 9mm rounds, and 12-gauge shotgun shells. The three of us took the time to load as much ammunition as we could comfortably carry. I managed to fit seven extra magazines into my vest pouches for a total of eight magazines. Jarret stuffed a bunch of mags into his pockets, and Riley crammed his pockets full of shells. Inside another box, four bright red first aid kits in soft cordura covers sat inside and each of us took one. I strapped mine to my left thigh. There were also two backpacks on the floor which we loaded up with a few extra magazines and ammo. I took one and Jarret took the other. It was a bit heavy, but I had no doubt that I'd be able to move well under the weight of my equipment.

"All right!" Jarret said as he gave himself a look-over. "We're ready to waste some zombie ass!"

"Hells yeah!" Riley replied as he gave Jarret a high-five. "Them 'fected gonna be plastered into da pavement, foo!"

All loaded up, the four of us gathered by the door. Landon pointed his shotgun at the door while Jarret readied to turn the door knob and throw the door open. Riley and I got ready to go through after the old man. With a nod from Landon's head, Jarret threw the door open and Landon went out the door and to the left. Riley followed and went right. Jarret and I rushed out to the opposite wall and covered left and right, respectively. All clear.

"Which way?" Landon whispered, his gaze still fixed ahead down his shotguns sights.

"Your way!" Jarret whispered back. As one, we moved down the hallway back the way we came. Nothing moved in the hallway save for the four of us, the only sounds being our feet stepping in the fresh blood and entrails scattered about the floor from our previous encounter with the infected. When we got to the door leading into the stairway, Landon kept his shotgun trained on the door while we stacked up and gave it a hard kick as soon as we all signaled we were ready.

We scurried down the stairs and formed up by the door leading into the downstairs hallway. Again, Landon kept his shotgun pointed at the door and Jarret stood to his left, his hand on the handle, ready to pull the door open. Riley and I watched our backs and kept our weapons trained up the stairway. I heard the door swing open and could see Landon and Jarret move into the hallway out of the corner of my eye. Riley and I followed.

"At least we be gettin' outta here wit' no 'fected comin' at us." Riley said with a sight of relief as we walked down the dark hallway.

I shook my head. "Bad luck to say that, man."

I heard the cry of an agitated group of infected come from down the hall. _Damn_.

"Incoming!" I heard Jarret call. He and Landon both knelt down as a group of infected dashed around the corner, their hands reaching out and their mutilated legs carrying them at frightening speeds.

I turned and brought my MP5 to bear on the incoming horde. As soon as I saw the weapon's sights align with my right eye, I pulled the trigger and sent a few rounds from a full auto burst down low. Jarret added his own volley of fire and our combined hail of bullets connected with the knees of the first few infected, sending them into the floor face-first.

"Open up if they get close!" I called to Landon and Riley. Jarret and I kept firing at the incoming horde as they came around the corner and managed to cut a bunch of them down before they got too close. No sense in having the two guys with shotguns wasting ammo on far targets.

"I gotta reload!" Jarret yelled as he tore the empty magazine out of his submachine gun. Three more rounds left the barrel of my own gun and I found myself dry.

"Showtime!" Landon said as the infected closed in. Even though I couldn't see his face, I could tell he had a wicked grin on his face. He and Riley started putting shells into the incoming infected and I was both amazed and horrified to see what twelve gauge shells could do to the infected. Some had their limbs blown off and were sent to the floor. Others that got too close were simply turned to red mist as they were vaporized by the buckshot rounds. The floors and walls were redecorated with the crimson red of (former) human blood.

Jarret and I finished reloading our weapons and started adding our own rounds into the mix. The gunfire in the hallway was deafening and I didn't expect anything to come up from _behind_ us.

I heard it before I could do anything. It was a loud scream that sounded like it could've been torn from a human throat. I heard it behind me and before I could turn around completely, I was tackled to the ground.

"Son of a bitch!" I yelled as I hit the tile floor. Before I could even unclench my teeth, I felt whatever had tackled me begin to claw at my vest, sending shreds of cordura out in every direction. Mounted on top of me was the most vicious infected I had ever seen. While it looked like the common infected we had gotten used to gunning down, this one had long, sharp claws protruding from its fingers and its eyes were surrounded by rings of dark red. My blood soon began to join the shreds of vest material.

"Hunter's got Brian!" Riley cried as he rushed towards the infected that was on its way to showing my ribs off to the world. With one good swing of his shotgun, Riley knocked the Hunter off me, the buttstock of his shotgun connecting solidly with its head with a loud _crack_. As soon as the Hunter hit the floor, Riley put a single round into its head, causing blood and skull chunks to pepper the nearby wall. The blood splatter on the floor looked like someone had taken a gigantic balloon filled with blood and slammed it as hard as possible; there was blood _everywhere_.

"You okay?" Riley asked as he knelt down beside me and fired off a few shotgun shells into the incoming horde. I looked myself over. Luckily the damage was relatively light: the vest had taken a bit of a shredding but would still be able to hold my supplies and ammunition. A number of claw swipes had gotten through and I was bleeding, but I would live if I patched myself up quickly. The pain was there but bearable.

"I'll live!" I called over the gunfire.

More gunfire reverberated through the dark hallways. Behind us, I heard another cry. This one, however, was more of a deep-throated, raspy wail. Before I could see anything, I saw a long, thick, rust-red appendage lash out and wrap itself around Riley's neck.

"Urk!" Riley managed to sputter as he began to get dragged away. He lay on the floor twisting and struggling as he was being dragged. Whatever was pulling him was a distance away, probably back where the stairway was.

"Something's got Riley!" I called. "Behind us!"

Jarret turned around and aimed his MP5 down the hallway. With the flashlight shining, I finally saw the beast that was dragging Riley. The left side of its face was bloated and it had bubbling growths and tumors dotted wherever its skin was exposed. Clouds of dark green smoke puffed into the air from its tumors and its tongue was the thing that was dragging Riley. It occasionally let out a raspy cough and was by far the ugliest fucking thing I had ever seen.

"Smoker!" Jarret yelled as he fired off a few rounds in semi-auto at the thing. Luckily, Riley was being dragged on the floor and was in no danger of being caught in Jarret's volley of bullets. The first few rounds caught it in the neck and mouth area, severing its tongue and letting Riley free. The last few punched into its body, tearing through its t-shirt and sending spatters of blood and smoke into every direction. As the last bullet penetrated its body, it exploded into a large cloud of dark green smoke.

Jarret turned back towards the horde and began firing off his MP5. I kept my MP5 aimed down the hallway to cover Riley as he untangled himself from the Smoker's tongue and stumbled back to where we were. I dragged myself towards the wall and managed to put myself up into a sitting position. A second after I had pressed my back to the wall, the gunfire had stopped and the horde had been turned into a mass of corpses.

"Clear!" Landon called as he scanned his surroundings.

"All clear!" Jarret called back.

Only a minute or so of fighting and two of us had been brought to the brink of death. If we were going to survive this ordeal, we'd need to get some heavier firepower to deal with the infected. While the thought of surviving was on my mind, I decided it was safe enough to heal up. I unzipped the opening of the first aid kit on my left thigh and took out what I needed: pain killers, disinfectant, bandages, and a roll of gauze. As the other three guarded the hallway, I tore my vest and shirt off and started working to patch myself up, popping a pain killer, disinfecting the wounds and wrapping myself up with a few meters of white gauze. I grit my teeth as the disinfectant sent burning sensations through my wound.

"Shit, son," Landon said as he looked at me. "Another tumble like that and you'll be one dead Nipponese."

"So nice to see you care, old man." I replied as I began to wrap gauze around my body. The painkiller was starting to work its magic and the stinging pain from the claw wounds was beginning to go away.

"You'll live?" Jarret asked as he handed me my vest. I nodded as I put what was left of the olive green vest back on. As a precaution, I aimed my MP5 at various things around the hallway to make sure my aim was still good. Miraculously, I was able to aim as well as I could before.

"How're you holding up?" I asked Riley as he massaged his throat.

"Man," Riley began to say. "Them infected be a gettin' on my nerves! Why da hell there gotta be infected like dat?" His voice was a little strained, but I doubted there'd be any damage.

I shrugged. "Maybe you pissed off the karma gods and this is how they're repaying you?"

Riley shook his head. "The man be a recoverin' from gettin' his guts clawed and he still be a droppin' dem sarcastic comments."

"Take it slow." Jarret said as he helped me up. The pain was gone and nothing bothered me when I moved. I made a mental note to pick some of those pain killers up if I ever got out of Kelowna alive.

"Well if you're all done crying over each other, I think we should get going." Landon said as he finished thumbing shells into his shotgun. He was right. I checked my MP5 and found that the magazine was close to empty. I thumbed the magazine release and slammed a new magazine in.

The four of us moved as quickly and quietly as we could towards the room we originally came in. Again, Landon was first through the door and the rest of us followed. A few seconds later and we found ourselves outside by the fence, the road and my car just beyond. The sky was starting to turn even darker. I looked at my watch: Two minutes to eight; in just a half hour or so, the town would be blanketed in complete darkness. Not good.

We came up to the fence. Jarret, Riley, and I kept watch as Landon began to climb up the black metal pickets.

"We better give the old man a boost." I said as I walked up to Landon and cupped his foot in my hand, giving it a push so he could climb the fence easier.

"I don't need a goddamn boost!" Landon bitched as he hopped over the fence. The three of us followed.

I unlocked the doors to my car and we all piled in to the dark red Taurus. Jarret climbed into the passenger's seat beside me, Riley took the one behind me, and Landon took the seat behind Jarret. I turned the car around to drive towards the highway and sped off quickly before we attracted any non-human attention. My MP5 and backpack were shoved in between Jarret and I and Jarret generously reloaded our expended magazines. Landon and Riley refilled their pockets with twelve gauge shells as we drove and I took the time to observe the surroundings.

The houses and businesses along the road leading to the highway were completely devastated. Many of them had their windows smashed out and corpses littered the streets. The occasional infected saw the car and made a vain attempt at running after us, only to give up their pursuit after a few steps. The car dealerships were still filled with vehicles waiting for customers that would never come. I passed by the house I grew up in and saw that it too had been ruined during the course of the infection. My heart instantly fell.

"Think this city will ever go back to normal?" I thought aloud as we zipped through the highway intersection and continued taking the road towards the Apple Bowl.

"I'll see peace back in Kelowna if I gotta murder every one of these bastards with my bare goddamn hands!" Landon answered as he pulled out and cocked his pistol. He was carrying a Smith and Wesson 5946 just like mine.

"I never thought I'd see something this chaotic in Kelowna." I said as I kept driving.

"You call this chaotic?" Landon said. "This ain't nothing compared to the fighting I had to do when we took Iwo Jima from the Japs!"

I threw Landon a "drop dead" look for dropping the J-bomb.

Down the road we sped in the Taurus. The devastation grew worse as we got closer to the Apple Bowl: where once stood elegant automotive shops and electronics stores now stood ruined husks, with some buildings even having small fires burning in them. More infected roamed the streets but thankfully none came onto the road to block our way. Past more buildings, past more intersections, and we soon found ourselves a block away from the Kelowna Apple Bowl.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Left 4 Dead or any of its content such as the infected, its characters, etc. Furthermore, the characters in this story are real-life people and the City of Kelowna and its associated places are real, save for Morningwood Retirement Home and the OBRU. The events in this story are completely fictional and do not reflect the respective institutions and organizations included. Left 4 Dead is a copyright of Valve and all firearms are copyrights of their respective makers.

**Chapter 3 – The Apple Bowl**

I looked out the window to my left and saw the Apple Bowl come into view down below. The stadium/running track was a place where I once frequented with two of my friends, Jeff and Dan, to run to exhaustion. Now I was going there to loot a military base and get the hell out of this city. Luckily, the stadium lights were on and shone down on the area, lighting up the inner football field and bleachers. The field was dotted with olive green army tents and prefabricated buildings, and I also noticed a number of large steel containers, identical to the ones used to hold things on container ships. However, the areas outside the stadium were pretty dark; I had a suspicion that while the stadium's power, which drew power from the city, was on, whatever source the army was using was offline.

As I turned the car down the road and towards the entrance to the Apple Bowl's parking lot, my suspicions were proven correct. The lights in the parking lot and the dirt patch to the left flickered on and off and provided little visibility but I could make out the shapes of more tents and buildings as well as a few military vehicles, although I couldn't tell what they were with the little light. The open playfield to the right was pitch-black as well, but I could make out the shapes of tall poles dotting the field; my judgment told me that they were lights the military had set up that were now off.

"Well isn't this nice." I said sarcastically as I stopped the car outside the entrance. Thankfully, the gate was open.

Jarret leaned over. "Completely dark, huh?"

"Yeah," I replied. "We're gonna have a hell of a time getting in there and grabbing some gear."

I heard Riley speak behind me. "Man, wit' no lights in da place, we gonna be a nice big target fo' dem infected bitches."

"What's the plan?" Jarret asked.

I thought for a moment while the car ran. Several meters behind the gate to the right there was a small sandbag position set up with a machine gun in a tripod mount behind it, but it wouldn't be able to traverse towards the stadium and it would be too risky to get out and try to set it up in a new firing position in this darkness. I quickly glanced at the gas tank gauge: I still had just under three-quarters of a tank of gas. I suddenly got an idea that was crazy enough to work.

"I got something!" I exclaimed as I looked back at the boys. "Those infected are attracted to repetitive loud noises, right?"

They all nodded.

"How about this," I explained. "I'll drive around the parking lot and blare my horn. When we see the infected come out from the shadows, we can gun them down behind the protection of the car. I'll lure them back here towards the gate so we can funnel them into a kill zone. Cool?"

Landon nodded. "Good thinking, Tojo. We'll also be protected from any of those special infected bastards, to a degree."

"Man," Riley said as he leaned back in his seat and grinned. "I haven't done a drive-by shootin' since my last few days in Van! This gonna be a hella time, sucka!"

"This is gonna be fuckin' Rutland style!" I said as I gave Riley a high-five.

Jarret nodded. "Sounds good. At least we'll be able to lure them out so we won't face any surprises later." He looked into the backpack full of ammo. "We have a decent amount of ammo to take the fuckers down, but we shouldn't go too crazy."

I looked at my own ammunition supply: all of my mags were full and I was able to grab a few more from the backpack if needed. I checked my MP5 and saw that it was ready; all I had to do was thumb the safety off.

"So how are we gonna create our kill zone?" Jarret asked.

"Keep the car's front pointed towards the stadium" Landon explained. "And make sure you got your high beams on. Riles and I will get out and take up positions beside you and Jarret."

"What about if one of us gets snagged by one of dem Smoker bitches or pounced by one of dem Hunter fucks?" Riley pointed out.

"We'll be close enough to cover each other," I said. "If things get too hot, fall back into the car and I'll find a new position."

"Aight."

One last check of weapons and ammo. One last chance to breathe and calm myself. One last chance to hold my composure. Showtime.

"Ready?" I asked as I looked back at the guys. They all nodded and rolled down their windows.

"Let's go!"

I turned the wheel and slammed my foot on the gas. The dark red Taurus jumped forward and its V6 engine growled as I pressed my boot hard into the pedal. As soon as I cleared the entrance gateway, I started blaring my horn with two-second presses. The flashlights from the others' weapons shone out into the darkness and I could start to see a number of infected come out from the shadows to see what was disturbing them. As soon as they saw my car, they ran towards us, their arms reaching out and their mouths spewing their typical growls. To make things easier, I added my high beams into the mix to better see where I was going and what was coming up.

"Man," Jarret cried over the blaring horn. "They are _pissed_!"

"This is gon' be money!" Riley agreed.

I jerked the steering wheel around and turned the car back towards the gate. As soon as I cleared the gate I turned the car back around and slammed my foot into the brake, brining the Taurus to a screeching halt. I put the car into park and flicked the interior light on to make reloading and finding any needed supplies easier for us. Riley and Landon got out of the car and took up position beside Jarret and I, Riley to my left and Landon to Jarret's right. I reached for my MP5, hit the firing selector into the automatic position with my thumb, and lined my gun up to cover my sector.

The infected closed in. My flashlight and high beams illuminated a number of them running right towards me from my front, about fifty meters or so away. The majority of them were dressed in Canadian Forces uniforms; the green and black CADPAT pattern was unmistakable. They weren't carrying any equipment, so there was no danger of them wearing body armor that could stop the 9mm rounds from my MP5.

I opened fire. The four-round burst from my MP5 slammed into the chest of an incoming infected and took it down, causing it to fall backwards onto the dirt patch in the lot. Any infected that had come closer outside of my field of view were cut down by Riley and his shotgun, the big gun bellowing as it sent its twelve gauge buckshot rounds into the bodies of former humans. I made a mental note not to come too far out from the doorway and get in Riley's line of fire. Jarret and Landon were also busy covering their sectors; I could hear their weapons firing off as they killed an infected, paused to adjust their aim, and gun down another, and another, and another.

I sent another burst at an infected that came in to my left. It fell back as the rounds from my gun tore into its chest, sending spurts of blood into the air and tearing its uniform apart. I shifted left and centered the barrel of my MP5 on another charging infected. It went down after I sent three rounds into its stomach and one into his head as it doubled over. I added more rounds into the fray and soon found myself dry as another infected charged at me. Riley was busy gunning down infected coming from the left.

"Shit!" I yelled as I fumbled for a new magazine. The bastard came straight at me, its pale white eyes filled with hatred and its arms reaching out for me, even at this distance. I finally seized a magazine from my vest pocket and slammed it in, finishing off my reloading process by slapping my weapon's charging handle forward.

"Not tonight, asshole." I said as I opened fire. My MP5 was lined up directly with its chest and the five rounds I squeezed off peppered its chest and neck. Blood burst into the air and the infected went down with a loud snarl.

Like an angry sea of camouflage, another rush of infected came at us. I kept my MP5 alive, sending burst after searing burst into the oncoming horde. Spurts of blood, chunks of flesh, and infected snarls could be made out through the darkness and gunfire. The gun rattled off another burst of 9mm rounds, taking down another infected and putting it onto its back on the dirt with a loud _thump _and a small cloud. My MP5 sent off two more three-round bursts and was left dry.

"Riles!" I called over the gunfire.

"Life-fucking-winner!" was his reply. His shotgun kept firing away with earth-shattering bellows.

"Cover me! I gotta reload!"

"Aight!"

I ducked back down behind the car door and tore the empty magazine out of my gun. All around me the sound of gunfire hammered my ears. The smell of gunpowder filled my nose. The metallic smell of blood accompanied it. The high beams of my car lit up the world of death and destruction before me.

I came to my senses and put a new magazine into my gun. With a swift slap of the charging handle I was ready to gun more zombie ass down. I got up from behind my car door and readied my weapon towards the infected coming at us from the front.

Then I finally saw it: an infected wearing body armor. Just as a precaution, I assumed he still had the ballistic plates in the vest, and seeing his staggered run confirmed that. The vest was designed to stop fragments and small-caliber rounds, such as the 9mm my MP5 fired, so I decided to go for the legs. I adjusted my aim downwards, squeezed the trigger, and was awarded with the sight of an infected face-planting into the ground at running speed.

"Aim for the legs for the armored ones!" I called to the other guys, but they probably already knew that.

I checked my sector and saw that it was clear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw more infected coming from the left of my car. My gun came to life as I sent burst after burst into the charging horde. One former soldier was cut down as four rounds tore into its stomach. A body armored infected was tripped up by five rounds from my MP5. Another armored one was sent into the ground with a thud when I put some rounds into him. My pulse was beating. Sweat dripped down my temples. A few more bursts and my gun was empty. And yet again I found myself with no ammo and having a charging infected come at me.

"Riles!" I called as I ducked behind my door. "Cover me while I reload!"

"It's Life-fuckin-winner!" Riley yelled back as he took down the last zombie running at me. His shotgun turned the infected into bloody vapor, sending an arm flying to the left and spraying blood up into the air in a vermillion splash. A burst from his shotgun ripped the legs of an armor-wearing infected to shreds, again littering the pavement with blood. I could've sworn I saw some entrails join the remnants of its legs.

"You're so samurai." A friend had once told me. She knew me well so I always trusted her judgment. "Nothing fazes you."

That may have applied back when I was just another student at another university with another set of goals in life, but this was a goddamn zombie apocalypse. I needed to be calm to be able to think clearly, but when being rushed by these things, I somehow got a sudden urge to completely destroy every last one of them, to turn them into bloody vapor and wipe them off the face of the planet with extreme prejudice.

"Fuck me!"

I turned to my right and saw Landon being dragged away by the tongue of a Smoker. The appendage had wrapped itself around Landon's body and he had dropped his shotgun by the car door. Jarret was too busy dealing with a rushing horde to deal with the Smoker.

The thought of losing my friends in this apocalypse hit me. I threw – slammed – my empty magazine onto the ground and jammed another thirty-round magazine into my MP5. The force of the magazine going in surprisingly didn't shatter the weapon. As soon as I felt the mag click in, I knocked the charging handle forward with a good old-fashioned knife hand strike and got up from behind the door, bringing the weapon up to bear to open fire to the right of my car into the darkened sports field. Luckily the Smoker was close enough that I could see it with my flashlight. I sent a quick burst at the Smoker, sending 9mm rounds into its tumor-riddled face. It exploded with a raspy wail and in a cloud of grey-green smoke. I turned my weapon back towards our front to greet the incoming horde, taking care to not have my barrel cross over where Jarret was standing.

"You mother…"

My gun rattled off a burst at the knees of an onrushing armored infected. It hit the ground hard. I could've sworn it gave me a frightened look before it slammed face-first into the pavement.

"Fucking…"

The MP5 shook in my hands and jammed into my shoulder as I fired off another burst of gunfire. Another burst, another dead infected. Another burst, another dead infected.

"Cock-sucking…"

The smell of gunpowder intensified in my nostrils. Sweat ran down my face like salty rivers but I ignored them. My heart pounded, the force of each pump hitting my chest like a hammer. Each pound filled me with more resolve.

"Sons of…"

Two rounds in that infected. Three in that one. Three more into the infected with black hair.

"Bitches!" I cried over my gunfire. Another one of the infected bastards went down like a sack of bricks.

"What's with slant eyes?" Landon called as he fired off his recovered shotgun into the horde coming in from the right.

"He's gone fucking crazy!" Riley replied as he furiously thumbed shells into his shotgun.

I finally calmed down when I realized my gun had run itself dry; the clicks of the unloaded MP5 were almost deafening. I called out to Riley to cover me while I reloaded and ducked back behind the car. His shotgun was doing horrific damage to the rotten flesh of the incoming infected. Jarret's MP5 peppered incoming infected and riddled them with holes. All I saw from the results of Landon's shotgun was red mist. I fumbled with my vest pockets to grab another magazine so I could add to my own kill count.

"All right!" I called as I finished reloading. "I'm coming up!"

I thrust my MP5 back towards the front of the car. Five infected charged me, their white eyes coming at me like oncoming trains in the dark. I let my MP5 take over. Four rounds into the first. Three into the next. Five into the legs of the one wearing armor. Five rounds into the chest of the fourth. Another four bullets into the last one, sending it falling back onto the ground as if some giant had given it a good, hard kick to the chest.

More infected came at me. The gunfire from the others was mere background noise, and their calls of reloading were but whispers to me. I had always believed that death, being a natural cycle, was something not to be feared. As Bad Religion once wrote, "Life begins when you accept your fate." That was something I always believed in, but there was no way in hell I was going to let these bastards send me to an early death.

My survival instinct prevailed over my fears, and my MP5 once again did the talking for me. Two infected down. Shift left. Three more to the ground. To my right! Two more added to my kill count. Another burst of fire from my MP5. Another infected down. One last burst from my MP5 sent another body armored infected tumbling to the ground and then my gun was dry. I threw the empty mag down into the driver's seat, grabbed a new one from my vest, and reloaded.

My gun continued to shake in my hands as I fired off burst after burst of 9mm rounds into the incoming infected. Magazine emptied. Reload. Fire off a burst at one infected. Shift aim to the next and gun it down. Repeat for the next six. Yet again I ducked down behind my door while Riley covered my reload. When I finished reloading, I brought the gun up to cover the area in front of my car.

But all was calm.

The last few twitches from the dying infected on the ground signaled the end of this particular horde and the growls and hisses died out. Our plan worked, and the parking lot area was now clear of hostiles. I gave a heavy sigh and wiped the sweat from my brow.

"Ammo check!" I heard Landon call.

I rummaged through my vest pockets and checked my surroundings. Six empty magazines lay on the driver's seat and the ground, and golden brass shell casings littered the ground around me, the floor of my car, and the dashboard. Two magazines for my MP5 left, including the one I had in the gun itself.

"I got two mags for my MP5 left!" I called back to the old man after I took stock. I still had all of my pistol magazines.

"Two for my gun!" Jarret added.

"I got 'bout two dozen shells left, foo!" Riley said after he estimated his stocks.

"Me too," Landon said, lighting a new cigarette. "We'd better fill up."

We all climbed back into the car and opened our bags to refill our magazines. I grabbed a number of full magazines from the backpack and stuffed them into the empty pockets on my vest where the old ones were. The curved black plastic magazines held thirty rounds, but as I had just found out, one still needed to several rounds into an infected to down it. I would've killed to have a larger caliber weapon, like a 7.62 so I could down one of those bastards with a single pull of the trigger. Maybe I'd get to find my coveted 7.62 when we raided the military stockpiles. Two minutes later, and we were all topped up with as much ammo as we had prior to the horde.

Except the bags of ammo were now empty. We were going to have to be careful in case we had another horde come after us when we entered the Apple Bowl area; we had just cleared out the parking lot but I had a suspicion that the surrounding area wasn't completely cleared. Either way, we would at least get our hands on some heavier firepower once we got in to the base, but the trick was to quickly find out exactly where the army kept its guns.

"All ready." I said as I slipped the last magazine into my vest. The others signaled they were good to go. I put the car back into drive and crept it up to the right side of the entrance gate leading in to the Apple Bowl stadium area. Again putting the car into park, I turned the vehicle off and climbed out along with the three others.

"I'll go first." Landon whispered as the four of us hugged the wall to the right of the double-gate entrance, which was wide open. We stacked up, with Landon in the lead, Jarret behind him, me third, and Riley at the rear. Landon looked back at us and nodded. We returned the gesture and he turned to his right, sidestepping and peeking into the entryway with his shotgun in the lead.

"Clear!"

As one, we filed in through the open entrance gate and hugged the wall to our right. The military had set up a machine gun post about ten meters from the entrance and I recognized a C6 machine gun in a tripod mount behind a stack of piled-up sandbags. If we needed to gun down a horde coming from the parking lot while leaving, that gun would come in handy.

"Where to?' Jarret asked as we surveyed our surroundings. Thankfully the area wasn't darkened, but it was highly likely that the military didn't keep its ordnance in tents or in any structures at the front.

"I'm guessing they're hiding their shit in one of the containers in the field," I whispered back. "That way they could get quick access to it in case the infected came." Usually, the military would have weapons and ammunition locked up in an armory, but given the severity and suddenness of the infection, it was a good bet that the army guys had their weapons stored away in a much more accessible area. The containers were strong and could take a hell of a lot of punishment and were easy to lock up and open. I was willing to bet they were holding what we wanted.

"I'm with the Nip." Landon said as he pointed his shotgun down towards the left.

"Asshole." I hissed.

"Let's move, foos!" Riley said as he patted my shoulder. We hugged the tents and structures as we filed towards the inner football field area. It was very well-lit thanks to the overhead field lights, but in these outer areas, we had to keep our flashlights on to prevent any surprises from around any corners. Thankfully we didn't come across any infected on our way to the containers in the field, and we soon found ourselves at the brightly-lit football field, facing a row of long, steel containers.

Suddenly, I heard a gurgling noise.

"Brian," Jarret hissed. "Was that you?"

"Why the hell would it be me?"

Then the smell hit me. It was a sour smell, like vinegar. The smell progressively got stronger and the gurgling was accompanied by periodic moaning.

"Sounds like two people fucking underwater." Landon said.

The gurgles and moans got stronger. The smell was almost unbearable. What the hell was causing the noises and smell?

"Son of a bitch!" I heard Riley yell. I looked back, and standing a few meters behind him was the fattest infected I had ever seen. Its face and body had numerous bulges and growths on them and its stomach had grown to be large enough to fit a grown man inside. Riley had just been puked on by this infected, and was now covered in some sort of green slime.

"Boomer!" Jarret called as he turned and raised his MP5. He let loose a burst of 9mm rounds and the bullets ploughed into the Boomer. It stumbled back from the first few hits, then violently exploded as the fifth round punctured its body. Its explosion sent bits and pieces of its body over a wide area and Riley was smothered in even more of the green shit. Chunks of flesh and bone peppered the area as well.

In the distance, I heard the cry of a group of infected. They didn't sound very far away; there wouldn't be time to open one of the steel containers and get inside. They must've been alerted by the horrifically strong smell of the Boomer's puke.

"Are you _fucking_ serious?" I cursed.

A second or so later, they came into view, dashing around the corners behind and in front of us, numbering well over a dozen. The ones in front of us seemed to ignore Landon and Jarret and went straight for Riley.

"Open fire!" I heard Landon cry as he started putting shotgun shells into the incoming horde. He knelt down to give Jarret a good field of fire.

"I can't fuckin' see!" Riley cried as he wiped furiously at his eyes.

"Hold your fire and get behind me!" I told Riley as I lined the sights of my MP5 up with the charging infected. The gun jumped slightly in my hands as I fired full-auto bursts into the incoming infected. Spurts of blood and snarls filled the air as I desperately tried to protect my friend from the incoming horde. I was right; they only wanted to go for him. One of the infected got too close so I shoved the barrel of my gun into its chest, sending it stumbling back. I sent two rounds into its neck to finish it off. My mag still had a few rounds left, but I decided it was better to reload now when the closest infected was still a ways away than risk having my last few rounds fail in taking it down.

I finished slipping a new magazine into the magazine well of my MP5 and cut down the closest charging infected, sending it falling backwards and slamming into the pavement with a loud _thud_. More infected rounded the corner of the column of steel containers. Of course, with my attention focused forwards and us having one less set of eyes and ears, I didn't expect to get jumped…_again_.

I heard the high-pitched cry to my right but was too late to do anything about it; I was tackled to the ground by another one of those Hunters before I could react. But this time, I was tackled on to my side and had the time to react after getting grounded.

"Fuck you!" I spat as I clutched the front portion of my MP5's buttstock and swung my arms back to my right. The rear end of the buttstock connected perfectly with the Hunter's head with a satisfying _crunch_ and it fell off me into a twisted pile. I centered the front post sight of my MP5 with the Hunter's face; its red-ringed white eyes seemed to be filled with intense hatred as it glared up at me. With a wicked grin, I pulled the trigger and sent three rounds into its ugly face. The bullets tore into its skull and showered the pale grey concrete with hot crimson blood.

I looked back to Riley and noticed an infected had gotten through. It threw a fist and it connected hard with Riley's jaw, tossing his head to the right. I scrambled to my feet and again used my weapon as a deadly club, slamming the hard plastic buttstock into the back of the infected's head. It stumbled with the first hit then collapsed with the second. I let the 9mm bullets finish the bastard off.

"You okay?" I called to Riley as I knelt down and fired a burst of gunfire into a former soldier infected.

"Yeah!" Riley called back. "I can see 'tings again!"

"Good, then start firing that shotgun of yours for me!"

One by one, the last few infected were cut down by our blazing wall of bullets and shells, hissing and snarling as their mission to get at Riley was cut short. A few desperate minutes after the whole ordeal started, it was done, and nothing else went bump in the night.

I looked over at Riley; the green shit on his clothes had dried out and the smell of it was completely gone. He was okay, and it looked like the vomit would end up drying up and crusting off if we gave it the time.

"You look all right for a man that's been covered with Boomer bile." Jarret said as he reloaded his weapon.

Riley looked himself over and rubbed his jaw. "Yeah, but these clothes be a ruined!"

"Lumberjack shirts are stupid anyway," I said. "That Boomer did you some good, Riles."

"It's Lifewinner, goddammit!"

"How's everyone for expendies?" Jarret asked.

I checked my vest pockets to see how I was doing for ammo. "Not good. We'd better get some more ammo, fast."

"Well," Landon said as he looked at the containers. "Since we're here, how much you wanna bet one of these holds what we're looking for?"

I gave the row of containers a look-over. Most of them were locked, but two of the containers in the middle had their locks off, although their doors were still closed.

"Let's try this one." I said as I pointed to the left one. I got Landon to aim his shotgun towards the door just in case there were any surprises inside while Jarret and Riley watched our backs. Landon nodded to me to signal he was ready, so I grabbed the steel handles, turned them, and opened the door to the container. What greeted me was the most magnificent sight of the night. I could've sworn I popped a hard-on.

"Swish!" I exclaimed as I scanned the contents of the container. It was a forty-foot bin, and funny enough, the lights inside were on, probably drawing from a different generator. Inside, rows upon rows of weapons and equipment could be seen. But there was one thing funny about this container: none of the equipment was Canadian Forces-issued. To my left, there were several rows of Heckler and Koch 416 and 417 rifles, and to my right, there was a row of Mk.48 Mod 0 machine guns. A number of the weapons were missing, but there were enough for us if we decided to take them. Canada never commissioned any of those weapons, and to my knowledge, the Mk.48 was still in trial phases down in the US. Towards the back, I noticed a number of Heckler and Koch USP pistols and some CIRAS vests, two pieces of equipment I admired, but still had no idea why they were there. There were also a few Benelli M4 shotguns and several shelves of weapon attachments, including ACOG and holographic sights, and a few underbarrel grenade launchers. A number of boxes containing fragmentation grenades, bottles of water, and rations sat next to the weapon shelves. A few backpacks and webbing belts shoved into the back corner rounded out the contents of the container.

"Let's try this one as well." Jarret said as he pointed to the bin on the right. When we opened, it we found where the Canadian Forces equipment was stashed. C7A1 rifles, standard-issue to Canadian troops, were on the shelves to the left, and their shorter cousins, the C8A1 carbines, were on the right. Only a few were on the shelves though; most of them had probably been taken to fight off the infected. Hell of a lot of good that did.

"Gather on me." I said as I climbed into the left bin. The three guys followed me inside and we closed the door behind us. I took a seat on one of the benches beneath the HK 417s, Landon and Riley leaned on the shelves with the Mk.48s, and Jarret stood in the middle of the container, facing towards the door.

"Which shit should we take?" Riley asked. "I kinda want one of dem 'sault rifles so I can burst some 'fected heads!" He was staring at one of the 416s, the 5.56-firing cousin of the bigger 417.

"I think we're better off going with one of these babies," I said as I reached up and patted the buttstock of one of the jet-black 417s. "The rounds they kick out will put an infected down with a single shot."

"How many rounds do they pack?" Jarret asked as he eyeballed one of the rifles.

"Twenty," I replied. "And I'm willing to bet we'd be better off taking smaller magazines with bigger rounds than trying to gun down infected with low-power ammo."

"That's fine and dandy," Landon said. "But I'd like to keep a shotgun in the group for close encounters."

"Sure thing, Corporal Hicks." I said with a laugh.

Landon eyed one of the M4s in the back. 'Those things are looking good to me. Semi-auto if I'm not mistaken."

"I'd like one of those vests," Jarret said as he looked over his shoulder to the CIRAS vests towards the back.

"They'd actually be perfect," I said. "They use modular pouches, so we can take whatever we need and load them out appropriately, although we should remove the ballistic panels from the inside to cut down on the weight. Being bulletproof doesn't mean much against the infected."

"We just gotta decide what we'll carry and how we'll load up." Landon pointed out.

For the next few minutes we debated and discussed what each of our load-outs would be. Each of us ended up filling a role that would greatly enhance our ability to fight the infected: Landon, as usual, would act as point man and carry a shotgun: the M4. Jarret would lug one of the Mk.48 Mod 0s around and provide a high volume of fire. He was definitely in the best shape out of all of us, so he'd be more than able to handle the big gun. Riley and I would both take 417s, both of them being assault models with twelve-inch barrels. Our job would be to look out for those special infected and put them down before they got too close, so we were going to outfit our rifles accordingly, although we'd also be able to fight at close quarters. For sidearms, we decided to take USPs, since the .45 round these ones were chambered for would do well against the infected. We'd each carry a number of fragmentation grenades so we could clear areas of infected that were hard to reach. When all was said and done, we went off to grab our weapons in pairs.

Landon and I went first while Jarret and Riley kept watch. I swiped one of the 417s off the shelf and went to a table in the back to start loading up. Along the way, I grabbed a USP and its corresponding flashlight, a thigh-mounted holster, and all the weapon attachments for the 417 I needed: an ACOG sight, a vertical foregrip with attached flashlight, a rifle sling, and batteries. I got to the table and attached everything to my respective weapons. The ACOG scope I grabbed had decent magnification for hitting infected at a distance but also had a top-mounted red dot sight for close quarters work; it would come in handy for all ranges. It felt good to hold the 417 in my hands; it was a gun I admired for its functionality and diversity and here I was about to use one to gun down zombies. After a minute of getting acquainted with its operation and its essential parts, I was confident in my ability to use the gun. All good.

I set the 417 back down on the table and walked to the back to grab a vest and webbing belt. The CIRAS vests and webbing belts in the container were jet-black, which matched my clothes (or wardrobe, for that matter). Along with the CIRAS and belt, I grabbed a backpack and the pouches I needed to fit on the PALS/MOLLE webbing of my vest and belt: double 7.62 mag pouches, pistol mag pouches, and assorted, smaller pouches for supplies.

_At least my wounds are healed up_ I thought to myself as I took my tactical vest off and threw the CIRAS and webbing belt on. I made sure to remove the ballistic panels inside the vest then took the next few minutes to fill the modular webbing of my CIRAS with pouches: two double 7.62 mag pouches on my front sides, a twin double 7.62 mag pouch on my stomach, a twin double pistol mag pouch on the left side of my chest, and a utility pouch on the right side to hold batteries and the like. I also managed to fit a few more mag pouches on my left side and a pouch on my right side held a few fragmentation grenades. The USP holster sat well on my right thigh and I kept the first aid kit strapped to my left. My old vest and RCMP belt lay forgotten on the floor. Taking everything into account, I carried nothing short of twelve magazines for the 417, four for the USP, and four grenades, along with the assorted batteries and supplies that I'd likely need. I also shoved some more miscellaneous supplies and a few energy bars into the pouches of my webbing belt. To top off my outfit, I threw on a pair of knee and elbow pads to protect my joints from the concrete. I was dressed to kill. Literally.

Landon looked me over and stifled a laugh. "What're the knee pads for? You gonna get on your knees and suck off your salary man husband?"

I shook my head and chuckled. "Don't soil your Depends under all that weight." He also took a CIRAS vest, but loaded his up with pouches to hold shotgun shells. Other than that, he was pretty much decked out like I was, save for the knee and elbow pads.

Before we switched up with the other guys, we threw a bunch of extra magazines, hand grenades, and shotgun shells into our respective backpacks. If we couldn't strip magazines off corpses, we'd need to heft extra ammunition around. I also threw in a couple bottles of purified water but shoved one in a small pouch on the right side so I could reach it. I threw my bag on and stumbled a few steps under its weight combined with the load I was carrying in my vest. I guess my fitness wasn't as good as I thought. I wished I had gotten into weights at an early age.

All loaded up and ready, Landon and I took watch with our new gear while Jarret and Riley loaded up. After a few minutes passed, the two boys were ready to go and loaded up. Jarret had his Mk.48 equipped with an EOTech holographic sight and a foregrip and had his CIRAS vest filled with pouches to carry 100-round ammo boxes. He also threw on a pair of knee and elbow pads to protect his joints. Riley had loaded up exactly like I had. We all made sure we each had a flashlight on our respective weapons; guns didn't mean much if we couldn't see what we were shooting at.

"Man, we look badass!" Jarret exclaimed as he looked around.

"Fo sho, sucka!" Riley said. They high-fived.

I pulled the charging handle of my 417 back and thumbed the safety to the semi-auto position, chambering a round and readying the weapon. The others cocked their guns as well. Cue the heavy metal music, because we're going to kick some major zombie ass!

"Ready?" I asked.

Three nods were my reply.

"Let's go!"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Left 4 Dead or any of its content such as the infected, its characters, etc. Furthermore, the characters in this story are real-life people and the City of Kelowna and its associated places are real, save for Morningwood Retirement Home and the OBRU. The events in this story are completely fictional and do not reflect the respective institutions and organizations included. Left 4 Dead is a copyright of Valve and all firearms are copyrights of their respective makers.

**Chapter 4 – Escape from the Apple Bowl**

The four of us stepped out of the weapons container; Landon in the lead, Jarret second, and Riley and I bringing up the rear. Armed to the teeth with the heaviest firepower available, my confidence surged and my heart pounded with excitement. Finally, the apocalypse had turned from being a hopeless, pathetic death in my hellish hometown to something…fun.

I couldn't help but feel a surge of power and confidence when I held the 417 in my hands and kept it at the ready. Although I was the kind of guy that learned to keep his strong violent streak under control after a number of bad experiences, I was eager to let the beast loose and give it a chance at directing the 417. I kept thinking about what would happen to one of those infected if it caught a 7.62 round to the head or upper chest. Would the head explode? Would it vaporize? Would the chest erupt like a bloody volcano?

"Which way now?" Jarret's words snapped me out of my thoughts.

I gave my head a shake and came back to reality.

I shrugged. "Hell if I know where they keep anything else. This was luck on my part."

"We gotta find the comm equipment," Landon said. "That's one of the reasons we came here for, right?"

"Ya, but nobody knows where da 'quipment be!" Riley pointed out.

"There's no use in wandering around aimlessly," I added. I jerked my head towards the bleachers. "How about we head up there and see from the announcer's room?"

Riley threw up his hands. "Why da hell din' we go up dere when we got herr?" I noticed all the Boomer puke had dried and fallen off his clothing.

I shook my head. "Too many infected. Up there, they'd see us and rush us and we'd have had to cover too much open space. At least down here we could've funneled them in between the tents and containers. That, plus we needed the weapons as soon as we got here."

"Whateva, foo."

Landon spoke up. "Well, when you're all ready, I say we head up there ASAP."

We all agreed. Landon took point and we all moved quickly but quietly towards the nearest staircase leading up into the bleachers. I kept my weapon ready, aiming it at any corners where any infected could have been hiding. Fortunately for us, nothing stirred in the bleachers and we climbed the rows of concrete steps leading up. The steps led up to two walkways that had ramps leading up into the announcer's room which was almost the entire length of the bleachers. We filed into the nearest walkway in a tight column. There wasn't enough room to have one of us open the door while Landon covered the door thanks to the narrow width and the chain link fence that ran along the sides of the ramp, so he had to risk opening it up himself.

Landon put his ear up to the door and listened. A moment later he looked over his shoulder at us and explained.

"I hear some shuffling. Could be some of those zombie bastards inside."

"It's gonna be tight," Jarret said. "We need a plan."

"We're in a perfect order," I pointed out. "Having you two go in first works perfectly."

Landon nodded. "China's right."

"All right," Jarret agreed. "Landon goes in first and I'll follow and go right. Brian, you and Riles…"

"Lifewinner, foo!"

"…Will come in last?"

"I'll go left," Landon said. "I won't be able to provide much cover if I go right and have to fire my boomstick across the goddamn room."

"Just remember to shove the door open with your body," I said. "Go in explosively and violently."

"I did that last weekend." Landon said with a grin.

We all chuckled at that.

I nodded. "Jarret, I'll be following on your ass and going left to help the old man cover his sector."

"Which leaves me to bring in da rear and go right," Riley observed. "Soun' good, sucka."

Everything sounded good; at least we were beginning to think and act more like a team. If we kept this type of thinking up, we might just make it out alive. I kept a firm grip on my 417, my left fingers wrapped around the foregrip's front and my thumb high up above the centerline of bore of my weapon's barrel. I had observed shooters using such a grip instead of holding on to the foregrip like a handle; time to try it out for myself. I swallowed and prepared myself for combat.

"Ready?" Landon asked as he got his shotgun ready. We all nodded and got our own weapons ready.

The door was thrown open and Landon went through, pushing the door open with his bodyweight and turning left and hugging the wall as we had planned. I heard him fire his shotgun as soon as he turned to the left and cleared the door. A split second later, Jarret went in and to the right. His weapon bellowed as it filled his sector with 7.62mm rounds. I stormed in after Landon, my rifle at the ready with my finger out of the trigger guard and my eye straight down the red dot sight. I sensed Riley come in behind me and follow Jarret.

"Clear!" Landon called.

"Clear!" we all agreed. Only two infected down. Looks like I didn't get a chance to try out my 417. Next time, Gadget. Next time…

As soon as I had acknowledged, I looked down at the infected that Landon had put down. The infected had its legs shredded by the old man's shotgun and it lay on the floor swiping its hands at us and snarling. It was wearing a black uniform and had a matching black CIRAS vest strapped around its body.

"What do you think?" Landon asked me as I gazed over the snarling infected. "Contractors?"

"Probably," I said as I walked over to take a closer look. "It's not using Canadian Forces equipment."

I heard the door close and Jarret and Riley came up beside me.

"Which contractor do you think it's from?" Jarret asked as he gave the infected a look-over.

"There's an insignia on its arm," Landon observed. "Can't see what it is with it thrashing all over the fucking place." He put a round right into the infected's face. Blood and flesh showered the floor. Problem solved.

I crouched down beside the headless corpse and took a look. The logo on the shoulder patch was simply a red circle with the white letters "OBRU" in the middle.

"OBRU." I mumbled.

"OBRU?" Jarret asked as he took a look. "What's that mean?"

"I don't know," I replied as I shook my head. "I've never heard of a contractor that goes by that name."

"Maybe it be 'Okanagan Bitches R Us?'" Riley joked.

I chuckled. "I doubt it's that, Riley. If it were, we'd be looking at a Rutland girl right now."

"Okay," Riley said. "I'm jus' gonna 'cept da fact dat you ain't gonna call me by my real name Lifewinner, so I'll jus accep' you callin' me Riley from now on, sucka."

"I had plans to do that regardless."

The contractor on the ground remained a mystery. How could a private contractor have responded so quickly alongside the Canadian Forces to an infection like this? With this kind of response time, someone would have known prior that a crisis would break out.

"No use mulling over that infected now," Landon said as he went over to the window.

I got up and followed the old man. The interior of the announcer's room had enough space for us to walk around in. The table by the window had two microphones, a sound mixer, and two armchairs for announcers. The windows allowed us to overlook the entire Apple Bowl, running track, field and all; perfect for planning our next steps. In retrospect, it was hard to clear a room like this effectively and provide good covering fire with the weapons we had. Next time we'd do better. If there _was_ a next time…

Fuck it. With our arsenal, there WILL be a next time_. _

I looked out over the field. I could see the occasional infected slowly walk around the pathways between tents and buildings. Some stopped to lean on the structures. Some doubled over and vomited a sick white-brown sludge. There still looked to be a lot of infected that weren't attracted by that Boomer from before; we'd have to gun our way through the bastards in order to get at what we needed. Fuck us.

"We need to get to the comm gear." I said as I scanned the surrounding area.

"Right," Landon nodded. He stepped up beside me to look out the windows. "See that towards the back?"

I followed his gaze towards the center of the far side of the running track. On the far side of the rust-colored track were outdoor bleachers and another field. The military had taken down the chain link fencing that separated the far field from the running track area and I saw a number of satellite dishes and antennae protruding from a cluster of tents in the back.

"Looks like the comm gear to me." I said. "Except we're gonna have to power them up. The military equipment isn't drawing power from the city and by the looks of it, everything's offline."

Landon and I both went back to scanning the Apple Bowl fields as we tried to look for where the army boys placed their generators.

"See that over there?" Landon said as he pointed down towards the left. I followed his finger. "Aren't those generators?"

I took a moment to look at where he was pointing to. He was right; there was a collection of military generators off in the distance, to the far-left corner of the running track by the football goal posts. There were two of them, massive half-cylinder shapes embedded on platforms. Good thing the stadium lights were on.

"Those definitely look like it," I confirmed. "And here I thought you were developing cataracts with your old age."

"Fuck off."

"So we're heading off back there?" Jarret asked as he walked up to the window and followed our gaze.

"Yeah." I nodded in response, not taking my eyes off the field.

Landon looked at me. "I got a good path figured out. I say we move out right away."

"Hold one." I said, raising a hand.

"What is it?" Jarret asked as he was about to step away.

"I think we should take out any infected we see from up here."

"You're just looking for an excuse to try out that new gun of yours." Jarret said as he patted my shoulder.

"So?" I replied with a grin.

"China Pants may be right," Landon agreed. "Although I have a better plan."

My ego deflated.

"What da plan be?" Riley asked.

"Riles and the Jap keep watch through the windows here," Landon explained. "Jarret and I will watch the doors. We break these windows and try to attract as many infected as possible to come up to us. We can funnel them up through the ramps leading up to this room and fuck them up big time."

"I like it." Jarret said.

"We'll be able to cover each other decently," Landon continued. "Just remember to duck down if you guys miss any Smokers out there. If Jarret or I need help, we'll call out."

"Aight." Riley said.

Landon lit up a new cigarette and blew out a few puffs of smoke. "You dickheads ready?"

Riley and Jarret nodded. I drew in and let out a couple of breaths and squeezed my weapon a few times. Time to see how this sucker worked. I let the guys know I was ready.

Landon fired his shotgun into two window panes for Riley and I. The windows shattered and he used his weapon to clear out the jagged edges that weren't cleared from his initial blast. Glass shards cascaded down towards the bleachers in glittering crystal streams. I rested my body on the desk and braced my rifle, readying myself for the turkey shoot that would follow.

We definitely caught the attention of the infected in the area. The closest ones looked up in surprise, for lack of a better term, at the announcer's room, trying to find the thing that disturbed their mindless walk of the earth. I kept my eye down the sight of my ACOG. The scope's reticle was illuminated in red, the crosshairs bright and easy to use in this lighting. I steadied my 417 and lined it up with the chest of one infected wearing a CADPAT uniform, taking full advantage of the magnification that the scope provided. I squeezed the trigger.

The weapon had stout recoil for a 7.62 but it was controllable for these kinds of shots. The bullet zipped through the open air and caught the infected high up in the chest. It didn't snarl or groan when it took the bullet, but I _did_ see a brilliant spray of hot red blood explode outwards. The infected was knocked off its feet from the force of the big bullet and it hit the rubber surface of the running track on its back and lay there in a spread-eagle position.

I think I just came.

As the last droplets of blood hit the track, the infected in the Apple Bowl stadium let out a chilling howl. A second or two later, infected rushed out of the field and from behind the numerous containers, tents, and prefabricated buildings. The glass-breaking and first shot from my 417 were the proverbial kick to the hornet's nest.

Showtime.

"All right, guys!" I called, keeping my eye down the ACOG scope. "They're coming!"

"All over your face!" Jarret called back as he knelt down.

_Well played, sir_.

The infected that were around the one I had taken down started to rush the bleachers. I shifted my weapon to acquire my new targets and greeted them with 7.62 rounds. The one to the left doubled over as my shot tore into its stomach, spilling out dark red blood and other sickly-colored fluids from its stomach. It rolled onto its back and lay there clutching its stomach. Riley had taken out a couple to the left, both of them hitting the ground hard and showering the grass and running track with their blood.

"You're fucking _loving_ this aren't you, Bri?" Jarret called as he watched the far door.

"What makes you say that?" I asked as I shot another infected. Its head exploded and I celebrated with a loud "Boom headshot!" Whether it was luck or skill is up for debate. Honestly, I think it was luck.

"You're smiling!"

I hadn't noticed until he pointed it out. I was smiling, no _grinning_. Maybe it was because I finally felt empowered in this goddamn mess. Before we were a pack of lightly armed young men who were scrambling to survive in this living hell. Now we were packing some serious heat and I had the chance to kill these zombies without fear of retaliation. The power of my 417 sent chills down my spine as I fired off round after round.

I saw a tall body hop up onto the roof of one of the steel containers. It was wearing a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt stained with blood, and a waist-length dark green jacket. Its face was unmistakable; tumors and growths dotted its face and puffs of green-gray smoke occasionally puffed out from them. Its raspy wail confirmed its identity.

"Smoker!" I called as I brought my weapon to bear on the smoke-bellowing infected. Before I could pull my trigger, the Smoker sighed and went up in a cloud of smoke. Blood and bits of rotten flesh showered the roof of the container.

"What the hell?"

"My kill, sucka!" I heard Riley call to my left.

I shook my head and laughed. "It's only fair; I've taken out my fair share of those special infected bastards."

Both doors leading into the announcer's room had been pulled open so Jarret and Landon could fire out. I heard Landon's shotgun open fire, its report bellowing through the room. A few seconds later, Jarret's Mk.48 started to unleash a hellish wall of 7.62 rounds. He had his finger laid into the trigger, sending a long, drawn-out burst down the narrow ramp.

"Short, controlled bursts!" Landon called over the fighting.

"Listen to Corporal Hicks!" I yelled.

"Shut your mouth, Chink!"

I chuckled and went back to my hunting. One body armor-wearing infected came into my sights. I led him with my crosshairs and squeezed the trigger. The 417 kicked back and its round dug deep into the infected's groin area. Pretty good, considering I had been aiming for the bastard's leg. Thundering blasts from Landon's M4 and rattling bursts from Jarret's Mk.48 filled the room as Riley and I fired our 417s into the rushing horde below. More infected poured out of the cluster of structures below; where the _hell_ were all those bastards coming from?

"Yo!" I called as I ducked down behind the announcer's desk.

"Yo!" Landon called back.

"Those motherfuckers are coming out of the woodwork!" I said as I slung my 417 to my left side and flipped the firing selector to safe. "I'm gonna lob a few grenades down below!"

"All right!" Landon replied as he thumbed a few shells into his M4. "Give 'em hell!"

I grabbed a grenade from my vest's right side pouch and hooked my finger into the pin.

"Riles!" I said. "Cover me while I throw! Get down after I throw this thing!"

"Aight!"

I pulled the pin and felt the pressure of the safety handle press against my right hand. I squeezed it harder than anything I've ever squeezed in my life.

"Frag out!" I yelled as I got up from behind the window and heaved the grenade down into the running track below. As soon as the round metal sphere left my hand I crouched back down behind the desk and grabbed at another grenade. A few seconds later, a loud, cracking explosion echoed through the stadium.

I got up to survey the damage as the smoke from the explosion cleared. A dozen or so infected had been caught in the cloud of hot, jagged shrapnel. Blood was splattered all over the running track, along with torn bits of clothing and chunks of flesh. A few of the infected were wearing body armor, which stopped the fragments from entering their chests, but the shrapnel that did connect messily shredded their legs. For all intents and purposes, they were out for the count.

I heard the raspy wail of a Smoker in the distance. Its wail was loud enough to be heard over the busts of gunfire from Landon and Jarret. It came from the far-left side of the field, in Riley's sector.

Riley had just gotten up from behind the desk and was putting his rifle on-target with the Smoker. He pulled the trigger and sent a round into the infected's shoulder, sending a spray of blood and a puff of gray-green smoke into the air. A second round was put into the Smoker's chest and the boil and growth-infested Smoker exploded in a cloud of smoke.

I kept my head above the desk and looked to where I was going to throw my next grenade. Over towards Riley's sector seemed optimal; there were more infected coming that way. Again I readied my hands on the grenade.

"Frag out!" I called as I pulled the pin and threw the grenade over at my intended target area. Again Riley and I ducked down behind the desk and waited. I took the time to reload my 417; it wasn't empty but I felt it was better to get back in action with a full twenty-round mag.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Boom.

A cloud of smoke rose up from the ground after the explosion rattled the stadium. Riley and I got up with our rifles at the ready. I thrust my rifle out and flicked the selector to semi, my right eye focused down the top-mounted rail, into the ACOG scope's red crosshairs, and onto the nearest infected. I fired my rifle into the fucker's chest, high up near the collarbone, and it toppled over onto its back with a wet _slap_ that could be heard all the way up in the room. I shifted my rifle to the right and expected to put another round into the next rushing infected.

What I _wasn't_ expecting was one of those Hunter bastards.

The Hunter let out a loud, angry shrill as it pounced up towards the window, its clawed hands reaching out to embrace me in a savage tackle.

"Shit!" I hissed as I instinctively leapt back. Good thing that the room was too high up from the ground for it to reach, but the bastard took me _completely_ by surprise. It had come within a few meters of the window before plummeting back down to the ground. Judging from its leap, it probably landed on one of the bleacher seats below, close to the ramp that Landon was covering.

"Hunter coming up on your side, old man!" I called over my shoulder to Landon.

"Got it!" Landon replied as he fired his shotgun. The activity on his walkway seemed to have died down. I had no doubt that Landon would be able to handle the Hunter when it was forced to come up the narrow walkway, but just in case I kept an ear out for its distinctive growl and scream in case it pounced.

The horde below was starting to die out. Only a few stray infected ran at us but Riley and I put them down with ease. Those that did manage to get through were cut to ribbons by Jarret's machine gun and Landon's M4. Behind me I heard the familiar growl that Hunters made when they're prowling about and looking for prey. With my sector clear, I turned towards the walkway Landon was covering, pulling my rifle to my chest, turning it downwards and keeping the barrel away from Riley and Jarret as I turned. I saw the Hunter over Landon's shoulder. It was just about to crawl into the walkway that Landon had so perfectly covered. As soon as it crossed into Landon's field of fire, Landon put a shell right into its face. The pellets scattered out from the barrel of the M4, peppering the Hunter's face and tearing away at its weathered white flesh. Those that didn't connect dug into the concrete wall opposite of us in small puffs of dust. The infected let out a loud dog-like yelp and rolled onto its back. It thrashed on the ground, kicking its legs and clawing its hands as it bled out. After a few seconds the thrashing stopped and it lay motionless.

"Clear!" Landon called.

"Clear!" Jarret replied.

"All clear." I agreed.

_Fuck yeah_.

We carried out an ammo check. I had expended roughly two mags' worth of rounds, as well as two grenades. Jarret slid a new box of ammo into his machine gun, having expended almost his entire first box. Landon was down two dozen shells. Riley was down two full mags. Not bad, given the size of the horde we put down. Brass casings littered the floor around us. Red shells were thrown about near Landon. We certainly didn't kill something with every shot, but we did pretty well. Hell, it was probably the easiest killing we had done.

If only it stayed as easy as this.

"I think we should get back up to full load," I said as I finished taking my inventory into account. "We can't be too careful around these things."

"Agreed." Landon nodded.

"I also think we need a new order," I said as I looked our weapons over. "We've been moving with Riles and I at the rear. I don't think that'll give us optimal cover"

"What do you suggest?" Landon asked.

"I don' think it makes sense to have both da shotgun an' MG up front." Riley pointed out.

I nodded.

"So I'm taking up the rear then?" Jarret asked, raising an eyebrow.

I grinned. "Aren't you into that?"

Laughter ensued. It didn't surprise me; we had just carried out the easiest killing of the night. It probably wouldn't get any easier. Better to share some laughs now.

"I still think the old man should be on point," Jarret said.

"I'll go second," I said. "I want to be able to hit things far-off as quickly as possible."

Landon nodded. "Good thinking, slant eyes."

"I'll go third," Jarret said.

"Why not have Jersey Shore on the rear?" Landon asked as he jerked his head towards Jarret.

Jarret glared at him.

"If he's third he can quickly get into position to give us some extra fire up front," I explained. "It'll also allow him to get in position to get some fire to our rear if we need it. It'll be a good balance of being able to respond to both sides."

Landon shrugged. "Works for me. As long as we don't get killed."

I looked to Riley. "You cool with covering our rear?"

Riley nodded. "Yeah foo. I'm all good for coverin' our asses. It'll let me take out any of dem special infected if they attack us from behind or we miss any of dem da first time cuz you were slackin."

"Good thinking, Riles." Landon said.

"All right." I said as I smiled.

"If we come to a door, China Pants opens and covers our asses," Landon explained. "I go in first, Jarret second in the other direction, Riley comes in and helps me and then China Pants comes in last to help Jarret cover his area."

"Sounds good," I said. "Let's haul ass and get out of here."

And so it was decided. We would go back to the containers below and refill any ammunition we had expended then we would set out for the generators in the far field. Landon led the way out the door Jarret had been previously covering at the far end of the announcer's room. I went second, Jarret behind me, and Riley last. The march down to the supply container was quick and painless, thankfully. We took barely three minutes to refill out ammo and supplies when we got to the container. Landon and I went first while Jarret and Riley covered us then we took our turns on watch while they loaded up. It felt good to be back at full, my stomach-mounted rifle mag pouches refilled with translucent 7.62 magazines and my right side pouch refilled with grenades. I was impressed with the way my 417 handled and not a little too proud of myself for using it to good effect.

Loaded up to the brim, we made our way towards the generators in their location in the far field we had identified earlier. We moved as quickly and silently as we possibly could, keeping vocal communication to a minimum so that we wouldn't attract any remaining infected to our position. Whenever we came up to a corner, we stacked up and covered our sectors like a group of professionals. Riley turned back every so often to watch our six and I made sure to keep my 417 trained on any area where an unexpected infected could come out at us. Thankfully the journey to the generator area was uneventful. Landon had plotted out a good route; his navigation skills undoubtedly came from fighting in the jungles of Southeast Asia during the Second World War. After a minute of stalking around the tents and structures that made up the makeshift army base, we reached the two cylindrical generators.

"These need to be activated," Landon explained as he looked over the buttons on a nearby control panel. "Gonna make a shitload of noise once we start them. We better find some good cover to hunker down in because any infected that didn't come to us earlier will definitely haul ass over here."

It would take too long and would be too risky to go back to the announcer's room. I looked around at our surroundings. The field beyond the outdoor bleacher seats could be covered from where we were. A couple of storage containers were off to my right. We could hug the wall of the closest storage container and set up a good base of fire. If Landon covered the pathways we had come from, Jarret could cover the area leading from the far field beyond the outdoor bleachers. The narrow pathways between the structures would provide a good kill zone for Landon's shotgun, and Jarret's MG would be well-suited for cover the open ground of the grassy field. Riley and I would stand in the middle of the straight line formation, providing longer-range fire. It'll work.

What other option did we have?

I explained my plan to the boys and we all agreed it would be the best option we had to work with; in such a situation it really did make sense to have Landon and Jarret at each end since we were going to be stationary. I wasn't exactly formally trained in small-unit tactics; it was a hobby of mine to read up on but we didn't have to worry about facing the same conditions that professional soldiers fighting an enemy military had to face. We just had to deal with charging infected and the occasional special infected. As long as we covered each other well we'd have little to worry about.

Jarret, Riley, and I took up our positions beside the storage containers. Landon would activate the generators and scoot back to us and take up position to cover his sector. I

"Ready boys?" Landon asked.

We all replied that we were.

Landon pushed a series of buttons on the control panel and the generators hummed to life. The ground rumbled a bit from the generators activating and the humming got progressively louder. A few seconds later, the telltale howl of a disturbed infected horde echoed through the area; they were coming.

For us.

"I hate that howl." Jarret said. He kept watch with his MG pointed to cover the far field.

"Me too, dude," I said, keeping watch towards the main road up on the hill we had driven in from. "Me too."

"Come git some, suckas." Riley taunted.

The first few infected came into view: three in the black contractor uniforms we had seen earlier dashing towards us from the hill leading up to the road. We knew the drill: Riley and I would engage any we could at long range and keep watch for special infected. Jarret and Landon would open fire if the horde got too thick or too close. At this range and in my field of fire, it was my responsibility to take the infected out.

So I opened fire. The 417 kicked back into my shoulder as I squeezed the trigger and sent a round into the closest rushing infected. It caught the round close to its collarbone and spun back and down towards the ground in a spray of blood. I shifted left and fired at the next infected. I hit the bastard in its center of mass around the solar plexus area. It crumpled inwards clutching its wound and fell face-first into the grass as blood poured from its wound and in between its dead-white fingers. The third infected kept charging straight at us; it was kind of nice to know that these things just came at us in straight lines. I lined up my crosshairs with its chest and pulled the trigger. The bullet from my 417 dug deep into its decaying flesh and knocked it off its feet. Blood rained to the ground as the infected fell back with a hateful snarl.

Gunfire started behind me, the crack of 7.62 rounds. Riley was opening fire on some infected rushing us from the pathways. I heard the sigh and explosion of a Smoker dying; Riley was doing a good job of covering for special infected. His gunfire was joined by the bellowing booms of Landon's M4. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that they were dealing with several rushing infected in army uniforms; guess our earlier disruption hadn't brought out all the hornets from the nest.

"More incoming!" Jarret called. "Straight ahead!"

I saw them. The infected from the field beyond the outdoor bleacher seats had been mostly undisturbed by our previous gunfight. Better we deal with them now than have to fight them later when we make our way to the communications gear. There were a dozen or so, all of them wearing the green and black CADPAT military uniforms and about five of them wearing body armor. If I caught one of the body armored infected in the armor's frontal ballistic plate the infected would be knocked off its feet if my round didn't penetrate. Good enough for now.

The CADPAT-wearing infected rushed us with amazing speed. The armor-wearing ones were lagging behind a bit due to the weight of their armor vests. I'd let Jarret deal with the closer ones while I dealt with the armored infected. Jarret opened up with his big Mk.48 in quick bursts. The gun bellowed as he kept it steady; spent shell casings shot out from the weapon's ejection port and bounced off the storage container to our right. The bullets washed out in a deadly cone, ravaging the charging infected as spurts and sprays of brilliant red blood fired off in every direction from the penetrating power of the 7.62 rounds. I took the time to line up my weapon with one of the armored infected. I managed to get a lucky headshot and was rewarded with a vaporizing head. I dropped another armored infected with a quick shot to the chest that sent it ass-up and onto its back. I put one more round into it on an unarmored part of its body to make sure it stayed down.

I heard the raspy wail of a Smoker to my left. Before I could turn and engage, I felt its slimy tongue wrap around my neck. I instinctively thumbed my rifle to safe and shot my hands up to try and loosen the tongue's grip on my neck as it started to drag me away. Jarret was still gunning down the last of the charging infected and hadn't noticed me getting entangled in the Smoker's tongue. I managed to loosen the tongue enough to gasp a cry for help.

"Smoker's got me!" I gasped as I was dragged over the top of the generators.

Jarret turned and fired off a few rounds towards where the tongue was coming from. The Smoker was up on the hill leading up to the road we had driven in on. It was beside some large bushes by the fence separating the Apple Bowl area from the road. It was quite a distance and the rounds from Jarret's Mk.48 scattered. Luckily I was nowhere near his rounds, but I was getting dragged away quickly and it would be too much of a risk for him to fire up at the Smoker.

"Riley!" I heard Jarret call. The tongue wrapped tighter around my neck. I had been dropped behind the generators and was now outside of visual range of my friends. My fingers felt like they were about to break as I desperately tried to tug at the tongue wrapped around my throat. Static filled my head. My vision got hazier as the tongue tightened its grip. I heard Riley say something in the distance as my fingers got weaker and eventually stopped resisting the choking tongue.

I had to trust my friends. They'd be able to take the bastard out.

Suddenly the choking stopped. I found myself lying on my back in the middle of the running track. Looked like Riley took the bastard out; I had been too out of it to hear the Smoker die. As the static in my head stopped and my vision slowly returned, my survival instincts kicked in. I scrambled to sit up as quickly as I could.

And heard some infected snarling behind me.

I spun around, got up to a kneeling position, and saw three infected rushing me, each of them wearing the black uniform and CIRAS vest of an OBRU contractor. My rifle was close to dry and I didn't have the time to reload with them at this distance. So I drew my USP from its thigh holster, gripped it tightly in my hands, extended my arms, and lined the three-dot sights up with my closest target. Twelve rounds in the magazine. Better make them count.

My pistol jumped slightly as I opened fire on the closest infected. I aimed high, hoping I could climb the rounds from the infected's chest up to its face. Three rounds kicked out from the pistol and slammed into the infected's chest and neck area. It went down in a snarl while blood cascaded down its neck from a neck shot.

_Nine rounds_.

I shifted my aim to the next running infected, which was to my left. Again I sent .45 rounds from my pistol into the infected's body. Two to the chest made it stumble back. One to the neck and one to the face followed. Blood poured from its decaying flesh and it dropped to its knees, then to its face.

_Five rounds_.

The third infected was dangerously close. It managed to take a swing at me before I could put my pistol on it. I managed to duck the fucker's punch as I pulled my pistol to my chest. I pushed out with my left hand at the infected's stomach and it stumbled back a few steps. Before it could recover I thrust my arms out, lined my sights up with its crotch and fired off the remainder of my magazine. The five rounds slammed into the infected's thigh and groin area, ripping into the black uniform as blood spat from the open wounds. The infected fell back and hit the ground clutching its groin.

Time to get the fuck out.

I got up and reloaded my USP as I sprinted back towards the generator, switching the magazine out and pulling back on the slide with a hard power stroke. I saw more infected charge at me as I knelt down beside the generator. I was eternally grateful that the stadium lights were on; I could see infected coming at me from any direction. The infected were far enough away that I could get my pistol on them but I decided it was better to get back to my position. My friends weren't able to cover me from where they were; I had to get back to them in case I got swarmed or one of those special infected showed up again.

"Coming around on your side, Jarret!" I called from behind the generator over the gunfire. "Hold fire!"

"Got it!"

I got up and sprinted back to my previous position. As soon as I got back in line I dropped to my knee and reloaded my 417, slamming a new magazine into its magazine well and thumbing it back to semi-auto. It felt good to have the rifle back in action. Not that I had any complaints about the USP; I was just better able to cover my teammates with my rifle and loved the feel of it.

"Left side," I said to Jarret. "More infected coming! I'll cover front!"

I sensed him nod as he turned to the left. A few seconds later the infected that had pursued me earlier came around the generator. Jarret opened fire and cut them to ribbons with his MG. Blood and flesh showered the generators as the infected died in angry snarls. I kept watch with my 417 towards the open field in front of us. Nothing stirred at the moment. When Jarret shifted his focus back towards our front I slowly scanned to my left, up towards the hill leading up to the road. No infected coming down. No special infected prowling the road or hiding among the bushes. Landon's shotgun kept pounding away at an incoming horde and Riley's 417 snapped and cracked every second or two as he took out infected at a distance. I heard the distinctive growl of a Hunter come from behind me, to my upper-right. Before I could turn, I heard it scream and pounce.

Except I wasn't the target.

"Fuck dis shit!" Riley cried.

I spun around, my 417 at the ready. Riley had just been pounced by the Hunter and was lying on the ground face-down with the Hunter mounted on top of him, sitting on his lower back. The Hunter brought its right arm, its arm closest to me, and was about to start clawing when I used my rifle to bat it to my left side, spinning the Hunter's upper body towards me. The Hunter looked at me in surprise, its dead white eyes staring into me. I brought my rifle in tight to my body, the buttstock resting against my right side and I thrust the barrel into the Hunter's head before it could do anything with its other arm. It fell forward, to Riley's left, and fell off of his back. Before it could recover I lined my ACOG's red dot sight up with its body and sent two rounds into it, the rounds plunging in to its blue hoodie and rotting flesh. It gave a loud yelp as my rounds tore into it. Blood poured from its wounds as it gave one last groan and lay motionless.

"You all right?" I asked Riley as I gave him a hand up.

"Yeah," Riley said as he recovered his breath. "Goddamn mothafuckin' punk-ass Hunter BITCH! We should be callin' dem Cunters!"

I chuckled. "Glad to see you're back in it, Riles."

"Up ahead!" Jarret called from behind me. So much for hoping the sector was clear. I spun around and brought my rifle to bear. Jarret's Mk.48 ran dry and I opened fire the cover his reload. I emptied my magazine taking out several rushing infected, my 417 driving back into my shoulder as I shot a round into one, shifted to a new target, put a round or two into another, and repeated in quick succession. As the battle went on I was acquiring targets and putting them down with greater accuracy, as were the other guys. The feeling of power came back to me. As the last round loaded into my rifle's chamber, Jarret brought his MG back in action and gunned down the last few infected.

"God-fucking-dammit!" I heard Landon yell from behind me.

I spun around and almost collided face-first with Riley's weapon. Landon had just been tangled by a Smoker's tongue and I could see the bastard off in the distance, up in the bleachers. Riley was busy firing into a group of infected that were rushing them.

"Brian!" Riley called over the gunfire. "I gotta keep these 'fected bitches off a Landon! Take dat Smoker out!"

"Got it!" I replied, kneeling down and lining my sights up with the Smoker in the distance. I stifled a laugh as I caught a glimpse of Landon scrambling to loosen the grip the Smoker's tongue had on his neck so he could pop his cigarette, which had fallen onto his chest as he was dragged away on the ground, back in his mouth. Crazy old man. I squeezed my 417's trigger and sent three quick rounds into the Smoker. The first two caught it in its stomach and spilled out sickly red entrails and blasts of gray-green smoke. The third round I fired slightly higher and caught it in the chest. The third round caused the Smoker to explode in a raspy wail and a haze of smoke. The tongue instantly fell from Landon's neck.

"I'm getting to goddamn old for this." Landon grunted as he got up.

I shot him a shit-eating grin.

"I already know I'm old," Landon hissed. "I don't need a Chinaman like you telling me I am." He blew out a few puffs of smoke and ran back to where we were.

"Anytin' else?" Riley asked. He scanned his sector with his rifle.

"Clear on my side!" Jarret replied.

"Ditto." I added. I gave the hill and far field one last scan through my ACOG. Nothing but corpses and grass.

"Well," Landon said as he recovered. "Looks like we cleaned house. Those generators probably attracted all of the infected in the area."

I turned my rifle over and looked at my magazine. I still had around eight rounds in my mag. We did an ammo check to keep a tab on our expendables; I had spent around three magazines on the firefight. The 7.62 rounds were definitely doing their job at downing infected with minimal shots. All of the other guys were equally well-off for their ammo loads. To be safe I put a new mag into my weapon; better to have twenty rounds and not need them.

"We better get going," Jarret pointed out. "We don't need to attract any more."

"Right." Landon said.

Again we got into our agreed-upon file. Landon leaned out behind the corner of the storage container and pointed his shotgun down the pathway where Jarret and I covered. I kept watch on our front-left firing arc. Jarret and Riley were behind me, diligently covering their sectors. The communications area was a short walk away in the far field behind the outdoor bleachers; less than a minute or so if we moved quickly. While it was highly probable that we did clean the Apple Bowl out, we weren't going to be taking any chances. Not after making it this far. We snaked between the structures on the field, darted across the running track lanes, and snaked some more between the structures in the far field. Nothing moved in the shadows. Nothing made a sound. The silence was almost deafening. However, after a minute of walking we made it to the tents and buildings that held the communications gear we were looking for. We stacked up near the entrance of the largest makeshift structure, a prefabricated steel building, and prepared to enter.

Landon put his ear up to the door and listened.

"Nothing inside from what I can hear," Landon explained. "Still, I don't think we should take chances."

I nodded. "Make sure you don't hit anything if you shoot."

"I know that, yellowface." Landon replied.

"All right," I said. "Make sure you don't soil your Depends if you shoot."

"Are we going?" Jarret asked impatiently.

"Right."

I went up to the door and booted it open then spun around to cover our rear while Landon went through. He darted left and was followed by Jarret, who went right. Riley went in on Jarret's tail and went to cover the left with Landon and finally I went in to help Jarret cover his sector. Nothing hostile. All clear.

The room was a typical command post. A large table took up the center of the room, with a map of Kelowna on top of it. On the left side of the room sat a number of radio consoles with headsets and radio transmitters with various colored lights and dials on them. Computer consoles stood on top of desks on the right side of the room. It was pretty spacious for a prefab structure. It was almost eerie how there were no people inside, infected or otherwise. Hell there wasn't even a single corpse inside. Made our job easier.

Landon and I went up to the nearest radio console and he took a seat at the operator's station. Behind me I heard the door close. Riley and Jarret stood close to the door to watch our backs. Landon immediately set to work pressing a button here, a button there, turning a dial a few times, and finally putting the headset on. Once Landon started speaking to someone we'd be able to hear the replies over the speakers that were set up close to the radio.

"This is really easy to set up," Landon explained as he saw me watch him. "You guys didn't need me to do it. Come on, don't your people make this shit?"

"Yeah, but then we'd have left a frail old man alone in his apartment," I replied. "And we're not those kinds of people."

"You're funny," Landon said as he flipped me off.

"Don't you guys have work to do?" Jarret called to us.

"Shut up, Jarret." Landon and I both replied.

Riley laughed.

"Uh," Landon spoke into his headset microphone as he turned the radio on. "Anyone copy?"

"Who is this?" a voice on the radio shot back. It was likely a lower-ranking radio operator, given his less-gruff tone. "Identify yourself!"

"This is Landon," Landon replied. "We're at the Apple Bowl. Over."

"The Apple Bowl?" the operator exclaimed. "That position was overrun! Who or what are you?"

"We're Kelowna residents," Landon explained. "We came here to stock up and radio for help. Over."

"I see," the operator said. "Civilians. How many of you are there?"

"Four of us."

"We can't pick you up where you are. Wait one."

We waited in silence. Dead silence. Jarret and Riley kept watch towards the entrance but they were listening with equal intensity. I hoped they didn't send us to some far-off place on the other side of town. More importantly I hoped they actually would pick us up, wherever the hell they sent us.

"All right," the operator said after a minute or two. "You said you were armed? Over."

"That's right." Landon replied.

"Good," the operator said. "We can spare a chopper to come get you if you can fight your way to one of the quarantine points. The only one accessible right now is the Okanagan College campus. Over."

"Copy that." Landon said. "Okanagan College. Over."

"Make your way over there. It was overrun a day ago but it's your only option. Get over to the college campus and make your way to the rooftop of the Center for Learning building. Fire off a signal flare and we can pick you up; there should be plenty of flares there. It'll be hard; there's no telling how many of those things are there, but it's the only place we can get you. Over."

"All right," Landon said as he jotted down the instructions on a piece of scrap paper that was on the desk. "We copy all. Over."

"Good luck," the operator said. "And stay alive. Out."

Landon turned the radio off and got up from the radio.

"I take it you guys all heard what the plan is?" Landon said.

"Got it, bud." Jarret said.

"Yeah, foo." Riley said with a grin.

"China Pants?" Landon said as he nodded to me.

Finally we had an escape plan. We were extremely lucky that the military had kept a helicopter or two around to pick up any stranded civilians that could make it to the quarantine points. The four of us were returning to the place where we had first met, although this time to kill, not to learn.

"Solid copy."

"Good to hear," Landon said. "I say we load up and get going ASAP. Slant eyes, you know where this Center for Learning is?"

I nodded. "Yeah I know. It's part of the library. They completed it after you guys transferred out. I'll get us there."

"Thas' money." Riley said.

"Shall we?' I asked as I nodded towards the door.

"Let's move." Landon said. "We should resupply before we head out."

"Good idea."

We went out the door with Landon in the lead. Back to creeping around the pathways between the tents, storage containers, and prefabricated buildings that dotted the Apple Bowl field. We made it to the storage container that held our needed supplies and loaded up. I was starting to get tired from hefting around a vest full of magazines and a backpack full of extra supplies. It didn't make sense to reload our vests with the supplies in our backpacks; if the storage container was a short stroll away then we could just go whenever we needed to and slip new mags into our vests at will.

Reloaded and determined, we filed out and scurried towards the Apple Bowl entrance. I was really looking forward to sitting back down in my car after moving around under this load for the past while. We were about to reach my car when suddenly we felt something.

The ground shook. _Heavily_. I thought for a moment we were experiencing an earthquake, something never heard of in Kelowna. But something was moving towards us. Something _big_.

Then I saw it: a gigantic, hulking mass of decaying flesh. The infected was ape-like: its upper body had grown to be monstrous in size while its legs, which wore a pair of blue jeans, were still human-sized. Its massive arms were rippling with muscles and veins and were being used to help the infected move about like a gorilla. Its head was still human-sized, which made it humorously small compared to the rest of its body. It came from the far side of the parking lot, quite a distance away but fortunately in our field of fire.

"What. The. _Fuck_." Jarret said, his jaw dropping.

My eyes were wide, as wide as Japanese eyes would allow. I couldn't believe something so goddamned big could move so _quickly_. We certainly wouldn't be able to drive out of here with that thing on our asses; taking it out was our only option.

"Tank!" Landon called, identifying the thing.

"Fall back to the MG!" I called. "Jarret, Riles, cover us! Fall back if that thing gets within thirty meters of you!"

"Got it!" The boys replied. I got up and sprinted back to the stadium entrance as fast as I could. I heard Jarret and Riley open up with their weapons as I cleared their lines of fire. I made sure to watch the shadows and my surroundings as I swept the area with my rifle. Landon was close behind. It was probably a hell of a lot more effective to engage the big mother fucker with high-volume weapons like the C6 behind the entrance or Jarret's Mk.48.

I leaped behind the sandbags while Landon slung his shotgun and began fumbling with the tripod-mounted C6 machine gun. Luckily the weapon had a box of ammunition already loaded. Landon ripped the charging handle back and sighted the big weapon on the oncoming mass of infected muscle; thankfully the gate was wide enough to give us a good field of fire. I kept watch to make sure nothing snuck up on us while Jarret and Riley got up and dashed towards us. Landon made sure to keep his finger off the trigger until the boys cleared his field of fire; when they cleared the entrance and dove for the sandbags, Landon opened fire with the MG.

The C6 kicked out round after searing round from its barrel. Landon fired the weapon in short bursts but started to lengthen the bursts as the Tank came closer. Brass cartridges spat and flew from the weapon's ejection port and slammed into the sandbags and concrete below. Jarret knelt down to the right of the sandbag barrier and added his own rounds into the mix, the Mk.48 shaking in his hands as its rounds cleared its barrel. I had my 417 in the action, putting rounds into the monster's chest and stomach area; its head was too well covered by the overgrowth of muscle. The bullets dug themselves into the Tank's flesh but didn't seem to be doing as much damage as I hoped. When my magazine was empty I ejected it and slapped a fresh one home into the magazine well and hit the bolt catch to chamber the first round. The Tank let out a monstrous growl and moved out of our line of sight, away from the wall of gunfire spewing from the entryway. A second later, the Tank growled again, shaking the concrete around us and I saw one of the military trucks fly up into the air and howl towards the ground.

"Shiiiiiiiit!" Riley cried as we watched the multi-tonne truck come crashing down to the ground over by the bleachers to our right. That brick shithouse just punched a military truck into the goddamn air!

"Where did it go?" Jarret yelled as he checked his ammo.

"To the right!" I replied as I kept my weapon focused on the entryway. Sweat dropped down my face. My breaths were labored. I thought surviving this zombie hell was going to be much easier, who'd have thought something like _this_ would show up?

I felt the Tank move again well before I saw it. The fence around the entrance shook and the lumbering mass of muscle came back into our field of fire. We let loose with everything we had; I fired my rifle as quickly and accurately as possible, firing off round after round in semi-auto, aimed at any vital spots I could spot. Again it left our field of fire and went to the left of where we could see.

Right where my car was parked.

The Tank roared again and I heard it punch something metallic. A second later, my red Taurus was flung up into the air. It span as it flew up, turning over again and again as it reached a dozen or so meters into the air, and then it came spinning down to the ground below. Judging from where it was falling...

"Fucking move!" Landon cried as he pushed himself away from the C6. We did the same. The four of us hauled ass double-time back to the stadium field towards the row of containers we had ransacked for weapons. My Taurus came crashing down to the earth, landing on its roof with aloud _crash_ that shattered all of the windows and caved the roof in, right on top of the machine gun post.

The tank came crashing through the entryway, splitting the opening apart and sending wooden fragments every which way. It roared again as it rounded the wreckage of my old car and brought its arms up, seemingly to show of its massive muscles. After taking so much gunfire it had become exceptionally ugly; blood dripped from the hundreds of bullet wounds it had scattered on its body, chunks of flesh had been ripped free, and the jeans it was wearing had been shredded. It pounded the ground several times but we took the gesture as an opportunity to riddle it with bullets. Gunfire cracked and spat, 7.62 rounds from the two 417s and the Mk.48 drove into the Tank like angry hornets. Landon was firing away with his pistol, the USP jumping slightly in his hands as it fired its .45 rounds in quick succession. His shotgun wouldn't be as effective at this range and the pistol rounds packed a decent punch.

Magazines were emptied. Weapons were reloaded. Long seconds passed as we fired off as quickly as we could with snap shots aimed at the big target. After several seconds, the Tank started to leap and bound towards us. It closed the distance. We fired. Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.

And then it stopped.

The last spent cartridge from my rifle cleared the ejection port as the Tank stood there motionless. It stood there leaning on its arms, drenched in its own hot blood. With one last, but loud groan, it collapsed face-first into the concrete, sending a small earthquake throughout the stadium.

Smoke cleared from our gun barrels. The smell of gunpowder filled the air. Brass cartridges littered the ground around us. Sweat soaked my shirt and hoodie. A few seconds passed in complete silence.

"Is it dead?" Jarret asked, breaking the silence.

"I thin' so." Riley said.

I heaved a sigh. From what part of hell did that thing come from?

"Well, Brian," Landon said as he holstered his pistol and brought his shotgun back in front of him. "Looks like you don't have wheels anymore."

I walked over to the wreckage that was once my beloved Ford Taurus. It lay there on its roof, its windows broken, its entire left side caved in by the Tank's gigantic fist. I know it didn't happen, but I really wished the fucker had broken its knuckles punching my car.

"Hey, look on the bright side, Brian," Landon said as he walked up and patted my shoulder. "At least your car didn't get rear-ended by another car that got rear-ended and have to be taken off the road!"*

I just shot him a drop-dead glare.

"I'm sure one of the trucks in the parking lot has keys we can use to get outta here." Jarret pointed out.

"Yeah," Landon agreed. "We probably wouldn't have fit in the Taurus anyways with all of our equipment."

I just nodded. I had constantly complained at how my car had guzzled gas and broke down all the time, and I had wished for a new car on many occasions, but it was still my first car. I guess we all got what we wished for.

One last trip to the supply container and we were all loaded up with expendables. Having a supply container full of ammunition on-site for every engagement would be missed once we hit the road. Of course, our goal wasn't to kill every infected in Kelowna; it was to survive, and getting to the college campus was our priority.

We filed out of the storage container and quickly made our way towards the parking lot outside the entrance, Landon in the lead, myself second, Jarret and Riley forming up the rear. We made sure to check both ways after clearing the entryway, just to be sure that there were no surprises left for us. As tonight, and life itself showed, Murphy always loved to show his face at every possible opportunity. We made a bee line towards the group of vehicles pared closest to us, a group of about half a dozen G-Wagens. The G-Wagen was a tough, four wheel-drive SUV with a front-mounted push bumper and a top-mounted C6 machine gun. Its primary role was reconnaissance and was in service with the local army reserve unit, an armored reconnaissance unit. It was big enough to fit all of us and our equipment inside, and tough enough to endure the punishment of a zombie apocalypse. When faced with a situation like this, it sure beat having a sedan as the primary means of transportation. The olive green SUVs were parked in perfect order, in two rows of three, on the dirt patch beside the outdoor basketball court. Landon came up to the nearest G-Wagen and shone the flashlight mounted underneath his shotgun's barrel into the driver's side window.

"We're in business," Landon said. "Keys and enough gas to get us where we need to go."

Thank you Murphy for not showing up for once.

"So who's gonna drive?" I asked as I kept watch towards the farthest shadows.

"No bad Asian drivers allowed." Jarret said with a grin as he came up and put his hand on the driver's door handle.

I shrugged. "That's fine. Douchebags are better at driving SUVs anyway."

"Fuck off."

Landon and Riley went around to the other side of the vehicle. I threw my bag in between the two rear passenger seats and climbed into the seat behind Jarret. Landon got into the front passenger seat and Riley slid in to my right. With a turn of the key, the G-Wagen rumbled to life and Jarret pulled it out it its parking spot. It was comforting to be inside a vehicle again instead of out in the open. We kept our windows rolled down just in case we had to fire out and I had my rifle sling tightened and its buttstock retracted a few positions to give myself better stability in the car. I stuck my head out the window and looked back at the Apple Bowl as we drove off. Tonight we had survived numerous hordes of infected, faced death on numerous occasions and spat in its face, and gunned down the biggest infected we ever encountered. Our foray into the Apple Bowl had been a sobering experience and the four of us were beginning to develop into a much better team.

We pulled onto the road and sped towards our destination. Buildings and streetlights flashed by as Jarret gunned the engine and drove as fast as he could, dodging parked cars and obstacles along the way. The next hour or two would determine whether or not we got out of this alive. I knew the challenges were only going to become harder as we got closer to our goal of escaping, but whatever happened, at least we'd die trying instead of holed up in our homes, and that was enough of a reason to fight for me.

Next stop: Okanagan College!

*That is _exactly_ how my car got taken off the road.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Left 4 Dead or any of its content such as the infected, its characters, etc. Furthermore, the characters in this story are real-life people and the City of Kelowna and its associated places are real, save for Morningwood Retirement Home and the OBRU. The events in this story are completely fictional and do not reflect the respective institutions and organizations included. Left 4 Dead is a copyright of Valve and all firearms are copyrights of their respective makers.

**Chapter 5 – The College**

The G-Wagen sped along the Kelowna roads, powering through intersections and aggressively turning as we headed to the college campus. Street lights that were still active darted past as I took in the sights of a city gone to hell. Corpses littered the streets; some simply bludgeoned and beaten to death by the infected, others eviscerated, smashed, or outright shredded. Fires burned in several buildings and the smell of smoke and corpses filled the air like a thick haze. Wind howled past my open window as I kept watch with my 417, the weapon's buttstock pressed tightly against my shoulder and my hands cradling it in the cramped passenger compartment of the G-Wagen. I saw the occasional infected roam the streets; some paid no attention to us while others noticed but didn't pursue as we sped past. We decided that nobody would man the C6 on the vehicles' roof in case an unseen Smoker happened to get a good shot at us and manage to drag us out of the hatch. At the speed we were going, falling off would prove to be fatal, and we needed everyone alive to get out of the city.

That, plus we didn't want to leave friends behind.

I looked around the vehicle at my friends. We were keeping silent during the trip and we kept a careful watch on our sectors. Jarret kept his gaze glued to the road in front of us, taking great care to dodge any obstacles we faced. Landon was watching out his window, his shotgun concealed and pointed towards the floor. Riley was watching out his window as well but was holding his 417 with his left hand so he could shoot accurately out of the right-side window. Not that we were going to be able to hit anything at this speed, but we had made it this far; no use in _not_ being ready to fire.

A few minutes later the G-Wagen took one last turn and sped towards the road leading to the Okanagan College campus. Unfortunately, the road we needed to get on was _packed_ with cars and trucks, a testament to an evacuation that the citizens of Kelowna had so desperately tried to carry out. It was completely bumper-to-bumper; we wouldn't be able to get to the college in the protection of the vehicle, or onto the road that the college was on for that matter.

"Son of a bitch." Jarret hissed as he took in the surroundings after slamming the breaks. I almost went face-first into the back of his seat.

Landon agreed with his own profanities. "Looks like we'll have to hoof it from here."

I looked out from my window. I saw several infected walking around on some side streets. Luckily they weren't paying any attention to us.

"Riles, how's it on your side?" I asked.

"All clear, foo." Riley replied.

"Well at least we won't have to fight. Much." I said.

Jarret turned to Landon. "What do you think?"

"About what?" Landon said.

"I have half a mind to gun down the infected around us."

Landon shook his head. "We only take out the infected that are a threat to us."

I kept watch on the infected down the side streets. "I agree, but we'd better move quickly before they notice us."

"All right." Jarret said as he turned the G-Wagen off. "It was fun while it lasted."

I rolled my window up. "Let's dismount from the right." I suggested.

Landon nodded. "Good call, yellowface." He opened his door, scanned his surroundings with his M4, threw on his backpack, and got out and crouched down by a fence separating some houses from the sidewalk. Riley followed him with his own gear.

I shoved my backpack out onto the pavement and slid out. As soon as my feet hit the ground I threw my bag on, stumbled a step under its weight, and sprinted over to take up position behind Landon, pulling my rifle's buttstock out to its original position. Jarret followed and took position behind me. All of us were crouched down, intensely watching our surroundings. When we all agreed it was clear to move, Landon got up and led us away from our ride. The infected opposite from us didn't take notice. Good.

I kept watch on our front-left firing zone as we hugged the fence separating numerous houses from the sidewalk. I was careful not to rub up against the fence and make too much noise and I walked as quickly and quietly as possible. When we came to the corner leading onto the road we needed to get onto, Landon peered around the corner with his shotgun in lead and led us towards our destination. To the left, across the street, a gas station was dead silent, with a few sedans and trucks parked at its gas pumps, likely from citizens who had desperately tried to get away but were unfortunate enough to get killed by the infected. Or worse. A convenience store and pizza parlor had their windows smashed. A middle school was still, its parking lot and field completely abandoned. To my right, some houses were deathly dark while a few others still had their lights on.

"Hold!" Landon whispered. I almost drove into him.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"Infected," he replied. "Dead ahead."

I peered through my rifle's scope to survey the area ahead. He was right; just on the corner of the path leading into the college were three infected in civilian clothes. Two were sitting on the sidewalk opposite of the path. The third was roaming among the trees on the lawn behind the sidewalk. Barbed wire ran along the perimeter of the lawn, blocking off the area from would-be invaders; it was definitely too tall to climb or jump over. I could just barely see the three infected in this light; it was pitch dark out and the street lights barely lit the area under the trees, although the street itself was quite visible. My flashlight helped a bit, and thankfully they didn't notice us.

"They're right in our path." I commented.

"Yeah," Landon agreed. "We'll have to take them out."

"Riles!" I whispered back.

"What?"

"Are there any infected to our rear?"

"No, foo. Nothin' here but cars an' trucks. Jus' cars an' trucks, sucka."

I looked around. Some of the vehicles still had their lights on. With all of the crossing beams from their headlights and taillights, it was hard to see what was on the other side of the street. I surveyed the opposite side of the street with my rifle scope and saw nothing under the lighting conditions. At least nothing that could be seen.

I tapped Landon on the shoulder. "Riles and I will take them out."

I sensed him nod. "All right. Be quick so we don't attract too much attention."

"Of course." I looked over my shoulder. "Riles! Come up to me! We're taking those infected out!"

"Aaaaaw yeah, foo!"

"Cover our asses, Jersey Shore." Landon said to Jarret.

"Fuck off," Jarret replied. "But I will."

Riley trotted up to me and stood to my left.

"I'll take da lef' one." Riley said.

I nodded. "I'll take the right one. If that third one moves, it's mine."

"Yeeeah, sucka!"

I tapped Landon on the shoulder. "You'll give us a three-count and watch for us?"

"Yeah. Hurry your asses up. I don't wanna die of old age while you guys get ready."

"That's not too far off for you."

"Jap."

I brought my rifle up and sighted the infected sitting on the right. It was a male, wearing a grey jacket and a pair of blue jeans. I lined my red crosshairs up with his head. He vomited a white-brown sludge onto his jacket and pavement below.

"One…two…"

I controlled my breathing, kept my eye on my target…

"Three!"

Riley and I pulled our triggers almost simultaneously. The muzzle reports were deafening among the stillness of the street. Maybe they actually were that loud. Maybe I thought they were loud because I was wanting to take the infected down without bringing too much attention to us. Either way, the bullet from my rifle dug mercilessly into my target's head, sending a spray of blood, black at this distance, into the air and causing the infected's corpse to slump onto the pavement. He lay there on his side, a pool of blood starting to seep out from his massive head wound.

Riley's target was another male, wearing a hoodie, jeans, and a hat. Riley's round had darted out and scored a headshot. The infected's head snapped back; he probably caught it somewhere higher up on his head, and the infected sprawled out on his back on the grass.

The third infected, a dress-wearing female, started to come out from the shadows of the trees on the lawn. Her long hair was matted and stuck to her face in greasy clumps. She had stepped forward just as I put my rifle on her and squeezed the trigger. The round shot out and dug into her upper chest, catching her right under the throat. Blood sprayed out in a wide arc and showered the grassy lawn below. She went down among the trees, resting peacefully among the nearest tree's trunk.

"Infected down." I said as I lowered my rifle.

"Good shooting." Landon complimented.

"All clear on my part." Jarret said.

"Me too, foo." Riley confirmed after he swept the street with his rifle.

Good. We managed to take them out without alerting any infected in the surrounding areas. I scanned the opposite end of the street again with my ACOG scope and saw that a few infected were now visible, coming out of the abandoned stores and restaurants on the street. They seemed to be looking around for the shooter, but given the darkness they would be unable to see us and would likely not know that our flashlights were being held by people unless we were closer. Who would have thought the darkness would be our ally in a zombie apocalypse?

"Let's move." Landon whispered.

We got up from our position and scurried down the sidewalk towards the pathway. Again Landon led the way by peeking around the corner with his shotgun to make sure the area was clear. The path itself was a very narrow two-lane road that acted as one of the side entrances into the college campus; the main entrance was a ways up the main road. The barbed wire that ran along the retaining wall, I saw, went all the way down the perimeter of the campus. To the right of our entryway I saw a small sandbag barrier on the narrow patch of grass with a machine gun behind it. It was a C9, the Canadian version of the FN MINIMI machine gun firing the smaller 5.56 round. To the left, on the sidewalk by the short retaining wall, was a smaller sandbag barrier that could hold one guard. In between the two barriers was a vehicle barrier gate, a long metal pole colored in alternating stripes of yellow and black that raised or lowered to let vehicles pass through. It was down at the moment, and by "down" it was broken and its edge driven into the ground. The path ahead was completely blocked as well; if we tried to go up the path and around to reach the Center for Learning, we'd be blocked in by traffic and other obstacles.

"What's the best way?" Landon asked.

I jerked my head towards the sidewalk on the main road. "I'll take a look around from the sidewalk."

Landon nodded as he lit a new cigarette. "Be careful. Watch out for Smokers."

"Thanks, gramps."

I moved up onto the sidewalk and took cover behind a traffic light post, looking down the main road through my rifle scope. From where I was I could see all the way down the road and towards the main entrance thanks to the street lights and the lights on campus. Going in through the main entrance would lead us directly to the building we needed to get to, making our travel time maybe a few minutes. Unfortunately, the amount of cars, trucks, barriers, and other obstacles blocked our way in. I surveyed the surrounding area; tents were set up in the parking lot adjacent to us, all of them marked with a red cross to designate them as medical tents. Infected persons were probably treated there during the previous few days. Lot of good that did them. Military vehicles and equipment dotted the parking lot and debris blocked most of the pathways leading towards our destination.

Murphy, you're a cunt. Really.

I scurried back to the boys and reported the situation.

"All paths leading in are blocked," I explained. "We'll have to go up this side path and move through the buildings."

Landon sighed. "Figures. If we go through the buildings we'll have better cover anyways."

I looked over down the path through my scope. There was a white three-story building, known as the Lab Building, that we could get to. Our best bet was to make our way into that building and come out onto the main pathways that led to our destination.

"If we go through the Lab Building over there we can make it into the main courtyard area," I explained as I pointed to the Lab Building. "From there it'll just be a short walk to the Center for Learning." Landon followed my finger with his gaze.

"All right," he agreed. "We should be able to get there without too much hassle."

"It's all coming back now," Jarret said. "I wonder how much the college has changed?"

I nodded. "A lot can change in a year."

"We gonna go, suckas?" Riley asked, not taking his eyes off his sector.

With that, we got up from our position and rounded the downed gate one by one. I slipped under, the weight of my gear weighing me down and making me heave myself up after I cleared the gate. We hugged the chain link fence on our right side that divided the college campus from the backyards of the adjacent houses. We made sure to move swiftly but silently behind any parked vehicles we could use as cover that were along the path or off to the side in designated parking stalls. I kept watch with my 417, scanning my surroundings like a hawk hunting for prey. A few infected roamed the small staff parking lot beside the Lab Building but didn't see us.

"There's the entrance." Landon said, pointing towards a double door by a set of bushes.

"Yeah," I said. I looked around at the infected in the staff parking lot. They would definitely engage if we tried to go in that way. "There's another entrance if we keep going that will bring us closer to the courtyard. No use in going near those infected."

Landon nodded. "All right. Better we don't cause a commotion anyways."

We continued to stalk among the shadows and vehicles, snaking our way forward to the second entrance to the Lab Building. We filed up to the door in our stack, hugging the wall of an adjacent storage shed. When we reached the windowed double doors leading in, Landon readied his shotgun and I got ready to pull the door open. The flashlight on Landon's shotgun pierced the darkness inside the building and I saw nothing inside. Jarret and Riley watched our backs to make sure the infected in the staff parking lot beside us didn't come. They didn't care to notice us. I gave the door a quick tug and found it was unlocked. When Landon nodded, I ripped the door open and propped it open with my heel so the guys could get through, bringing my rifle up to cover their entrance. Like last time, Landon stormed through, followed by Jarret and Riley. I brought up the rear as soon as Riley went through, taking position behind Jarret in the cramped room.

"All clear." Landon said. We all agreed.

I looked back out the windows of the doors to the pathway we had come in on. Nothing noticed our entrance. Nothing stirred in the shadows. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Landon went up to the next door and we prepared to go through our entry method again. I jogged up to the door and searched the inside of the next room through the door's windows using Landon's flashlight as a guide. The room was completely clear. I put my hand on the door's horizontal handle and got ready to pull it open.

"Hol' up, foos."

I looked back and saw Riley scanning the stairway leading up with his rifle. His flashlight danced around trying to sniff things out of the dark corners.

"What's up?" Jarret whispered.

"I thin' we should go up." Riley said.

"Why's that?" Landon asked, keeping his focus on the door in front of him. "Slant eyes knows where we're going."

Riley shook his head. "I thin' we should go high up an' survey our surroundins' to find a good path. We don' know what da inner couryerd be lookin' like."

I thought for a moment. "That sounds good."

"You should've suggested that the first time, Chink." Landon said as he stepped back from the doorway.

I shrugged. "Hey, I was implying that we would do something like that!" I actually didn't. It was an oversight on my part, but they didn't need to know that.

"Sure you were."

"Regardless," Jarret interrupted. "We should get going."

Landon backed up towards the stairwell while I followed. He kept watch with his shotgun and shone his flashlight into every corner and up the stairs. It really was a bitch that the power was out in the building; I wondered if the rest of the campus was like this. Landon started up the stairs after signaling it was clear with me hot on his tracks. Jarret was right behind me while Riley covered our rear. Up two flights of stairs and Landon turned left to cover the doorway leading into the second floor. Nothing. Good. We then moved up the next two flights of stairs in the same focused manner. As soon as we hit the top floor we stacked up at the door as usual. I threw the door open, the boys filed in, and I went in last.

The building was in an L-shape and we had come up in the middle where two hallways with open double doors at their entrance converged into a larger central room adorned with vending machines on the left side and two doorways on the right, the closest one leading to some washrooms and a classroom and the farther one leading to a lab. Landon went left out the door, hugging the close wall that had an elevator in it. Jarret went right and moved up hugging the right wall, covering both the hallway directly in front of us as well as the two doorways to the right that led to washrooms and classrooms. Riley went left to help Landon and I found myself taking up position to the right of our entrance, my 417 covering the long hallway that led to the other side of the building. All clear.

My flashlight illuminated the room inside. Corpses lay on the brown brick floors and blood was splattered on the walls. On the far wall, windows ran along the entire length of the wall and down both hallways which would give us an excellent view of the campus once we got up to them. The entire interior was multicolored: the walls by our entrance were orange, the walls that had the windows looking out were green, and the hallway walls were white. Regardless of the color, dark red blood was splattered all over them and several bullet holes were punched into them; there must have been a battle here earlier.

"What's the situation over there?" Landon asked.

"All clear here, old man." Jarret replied.

"Let's clear the left hallway!"

I ran up to Landon's position while Jarret moved up behind me. I crouched down behind Landon and pointed my gun to our front-right side, covering the opening of the opposite hallway in case anything decided to come around the corner. Jarret was behind me, aiming his weapon at the doorways that led to the washrooms and classrooms. Riley came up last, covering the stairway we had entered from. When we were all ready, I patted Landon's shoulder, signaling we were ready, and we moved up to the edge of the row of vending machines.

"Infected!" Landon hissed as he peered around the corner. He stepped forward a few paces and crouched down on the left side of the hallway, right beside one of the open double doors.

"Let's take positions!" I said to the guys.

I rushed up to crouch beside Landon underneath the windows looking out. I heard Riley and Jarret take up positions behind us. Jarret volunteered to watch our rear in case our fight attracted anything else. I saw the infected that Landon had sighted. Eight infected were beginning to rush our position, all of them wearing the black uniforms and CIRAS vests of OBRU contractors. We did the usual: Riley and I would open fire first to take them down at a distance while Landon took them down at closer range.

I had eighteen rounds in my magazine thanks to taking down the two infected from before. I sighted the infected at the front of the group and pulled the trigger of my 417. The report reverberated off the walls and windows as a 7.62 round screamed down the hallway, slamming into the chest of the infected. Blood sprayed onto the walls to the left and the windows to the right. It snarled, tossed its hands up, and went down with a _thud_. Riley was gunning down the infected's cohorts, sending round after round into the onrushing sea of black.

"Infected!" I heard Jarret call. A second later, his big Mk.48 bellowed as he opened fire.

"Aight!" Riley called.

Riley turned around to assist Jarret in covering his sector. From where we were, the infected rushing behind us had to clear a wall and come around into Jarret's field of fire. Not a bad position for us, actually. Riley only needed to cover the doorways by our original entrance to make sure nothing came from there and could assist Jarret as needed.

I shifted left and took out another infected. It went down in a spray of blood and a snarl of hatred. I shifted right and sent two snapshots into two infected running close together. My rifle jumped slightly from the quick shots but both rounds found their marks. More blood was added to the walls and windows. Two more corpses joined the freshly-gunned infected and older corpses lying on the floor. Landon opened up with his shotgun and shredded the last few infected rushing us, turning them into a sick red mist as the buckshot tore their bodies apart, limb from limb.

As the last infected went down I quickly did an ammo check. I had fourteen rounds remaining in my magazine. Just to be safe, I threw a full one in to handle anything else that may come. The click of my magazine docking in the mag well told me it was ready to go.

_Slam_. _Slam_. _Slam_.

"What the fuck?" I said.

_Crash!_

To the left of the hallway we were covering, about eight meters down the hallway, a rush of infected came pouring out from a classroom. The door had been closed and they had smashed their way out, probably knocking the door off of its hinges in the process. Some of them were civilians in everyday clothes like jeans, shorts, hoodies, and t-shirts. Some were male. Some were female. Others were OBRU contractors or Canadian Forces personnel. Regardless of what they were wearing or who they (formerly) were, they were targets. Fresh targets. The hallway's narrow width was a saving grace; if I missed one infected it was likely that my round would drive into another one coming up behind or to the side. Still, I made sure every shot count; no use in _trying_ to waste ammo, given our limited loadout.

I fired my 417 into the onrushing horde. One OBRU infected snarled and went down, tumbling back into the path of another infected. Both went down to the floor and hit it hard. I'd handle the unwounded one later. I shifted right, took a split second to aim, and took down another OBRU infected. To the right, a soldier infected went down as I put it down with my 417. Smoke filled the air. The infected rushing us stepped on the corpses of their fallen brethren, sending sick splattering noises through the hallway as blood, entrails, and flesh were trampled under the feet of the angry horde. Gunpowder filled my nostrils. The thundering rumble of Jarret's MG behind me shook the walls. I heard the crack of Riley's weapon as he added his own weapon into the mix to assist Jarret. Landon fired his shotgun into the onrushing horde as they came closer and took down several at a time. The infected that had fallen down from before started to get up and I put a round into its neck. More gunfire. More dead. More gunfire. More dead. Eventually it was all clear.

Or so I thought.

I heard the distinctive wail of a Smoker in the distance. I brought my weapon up, illuminating the hallway and allowing me to see down to the end. A Smoker had just rounded the corner, puffing smoke from the tumors and growths on its face. It was wearing an OBRU uniform but the uniform had torn at several places where more smoke-spewing growths bulged through. Its rust-red tongue dangled from its mouth and saliva dripped from it. Before I could pull the trigger it ducked back behind the wall, out of sight and out of my line of fire.

"Smoker down the hall!" I said to Landon. "I didn't get it!"

"Copy!" he replied as he reloaded his shotgun.

My weapon was down to three rounds if I counted right. Three rounds would be enough to take out the Smoker if it rounded the corner again.

"What's the situation, gangster?" Landon called behind him to Riley.

"We clear here, foo!" Riley replied. He was watching the far doorways leading to the washrooms and lab.

"Urgh."

I knew what that moan was. It was a Boomer. It was close. It came from behind me, towards the stairway we came up from. I didn't bother to take my attention away from the hallway in front of me. I kept a dead stare down the hallway through my ACOG scope, watching, waiting for the Smoker to rear its ugly face around the corner. I heard the telltale squeal of a door opening from behind me.

"Boomer!" I heard Riley call. A second later I heard an explosion as the fat infected was blasted to smithereens by Riley's 417. I could hear bits of flesh and splatters of blood pepper and smother the walls around the stairway entrance. It would have been gut-wrenching to the normal person, but we had been immersed in the gore and gibs of zombie-hunting all night. Nothing moved in the hallway. Nothing sounded.

Except a growl.

_Goddammit_.

I heard it before I saw it. It was definitely a Hunter. There was a doorway to the left of us about two meters from where Landon was crouched. Nothing had come out from that doorway during the horde and now something was definitely itching to come out. I had a class in that room in the fall, and if memory served…

Suddenly, the Hunter leapt around the corner at Landon, its arms reaching out to tackle him to the floor. Landon managed to squeeze off a quick shot at the leaping infected, but he only managed to catch it in the lower leg. It tackled him to the floor beside me.

"Fucking hell!" Landon yelled as he was slammed onto his back. His cigarette had flown out of his mouth and came to rest on the floor by the doorway. The Hunter brought its arm up to claw Landon.

That's when I heard the raspy wail.

I shoved the Hunter off of Landon with the barrel of my 417 just as the Smoker's tongue shot out of the darkness beyond. The tongue wrapped around my midsection and began to squeeze. Luckily my vest and backpack kept the tongue from squeezing the air out of me. I heard the blast of a shotgun beside me and the high-pitched wail of the Hunter as it died; Landon must have managed to squeeze off a shot from his position to take the Hunter out. I managed to spin around and put my sights on the Smoker in the distance, following the tongue to where it was standing. I sent the remaining three rounds from my rifle into it with three quick pulls of the trigger before it could drag me away. The first round tore into its stomach, spilling out blood, its intestines, and a bellow of smoke. The second and third rounds dug into its chest. As the third round penetrated its uniform, it exploded in a cloud of smoke and a sigh. Blood splattered the white lockers behind it. Its rust-red tongue released me and dropped harmlessly to the floor.

I turned back around and saw Landon get up off of his back. The Hunter lay sprawled on the floor in front of him, its body bleeding heavily from several buckshot wounds. It lay there motionless, its red-ringed eyes gazing up towards the heavens. No almighty power's gonna be welcoming you, asshole. Landon pulled a fresh cigarette out from his vest and lit it up. He puffed on it for a few seconds and thumbed shells into his shotgun until it was topped up.

"All clear." Jarret said.

I nodded. "All clear."

Landon puffed on his cigarette and blew the smoke out at the Hunter's corpse.

"Old man," I said. "Shine your light on me for a sec."

"What for?"

"I wanna check my mags."

"All right."

The Smoker's tongue had wrapped itself tightly around my body when it had gotten a hold of me. The equipment in my vest had managed to stop it from compressing my body, but I wanted to make sure that the magazines hadn't been damaged. One by one, I pulled out every rifle magazine from my stomach and left side pouch and inspected it to make sure it hadn't been crushed. None of them were. Good. I didn't have to check the mags in my backpack, given that they were protected by other supplies and the several layers of pockets of the backpack itself. I ejected the empty magazine from my rifle, slipped it into my left side pouch, and grabbed a new one from the same pouch and slapped it in. I completed the reloading process by pressing the bolt catch, chambering the first round from the twenty-round magazine.

I nodded. "Good to go."

"Right." Landon said.

"Let's figure out where to go." I said as I looked to my right and out through the windows. Jarret stayed near the corner leading into the next hallway and kept watch. Riley watched the doorways leading into the stairwell and into the far classroom and washrooms. Landon and I surveyed our surroundings. Every so often Landon would look down the hallway we had covered to make sure nothing came.

"What do you think?" Landon asked.

I scanned the college campus below. The red light posts below that held their bright lights atop were still shining, giving some light to the area. A few military lamp posts linked to wheeled generators added more light to the area. To the left was the main building that held the college gym and administration offices. Farther and to the left was the grassy courtyard which had been a beautiful fountain a few years ago. Large evergreen trees, as tall as the lab building itself, blocked my view to see what was on the right side beyond the lab building's other wing, but I knew that farther and to the right lay both the cafeteria and the large Center for Learning building. The latter was a very modern building which mostly used natural light inside thanks to its very large sun-absorbing windows. It was a combination of concrete, metal, and gentle brown wooden accents. It was by all means a beautiful building, a symbol of modern sustainable architecture. Hell, I loved having classes in the building and I often sat in the main room in a nice comfy chair to get work done. That was our destination.

Unfortunately, I saw that it was going to be a hell of a lot harder than just getting to our destination. The area below was severely congested. A large barrier made up of concrete roadblocks, two G-Wagens, barbed wire, and anything else that could be piled up had been set up extending from the main building to, I assumed, given that the evergreen trees were in the way, the cafeteria. A mass of corpses littered the lawn and lay among the surrounding trees between the main building and the lab building; the barrier had likely been set up as a hasty inner line of defense against rushing hordes. There was no doubt that in order to create an effective defensive perimeter, the barricade extended to the right past the cafeteria and around so that the infected couldn't go through the lab building and come out behind the barrier. There were two side entrances to the main building, two sets of double doors spaced several meters apart on a raised concrete walkway protected by a chest-high concrete wall topped with barbed wire. The far one was completely caved in by debris. However, the closest side entrance was accessible. The large glass windows in the door had been broken, probably from the infected since the door was too strong to break down. A mass of infected corpses was a testament to that; they had probably been gunned down by any defenders behind the door as they tried to gain access. If we could get to the side entrance and go in through there, we could get around past the barrier and get to the Center for Learning.

It was our only choice.

"You guys aren't going to like this." I said.

"Let me guess," Riley said, keeping his eyes on the doorways he was covering. "We gotta go 'round a bunch a places in orda to git to da buildin' we need ta be at."

I sighed. "Riley's right."

"Really?" Landon asked as he peered through the window.

"Yeah," I said. "See those big trees over there? Our destination is behind those trees a ways." I aimed my rifle down the hallway to cover us while Landon took in the surroundings.

"Son of a bitch." Landon hissed.

I nodded towards the main building. "The only path I can see us taking is going through the main building over there and going around. See the side entrance over there?"

"Yeah."

"The defenders didn't build the barricade to have the side entrance protected by it. They were likely banking on having a machine gun or something hold that entrance and create an easy kill zone. We should be able to enter there."

"All right," Landon agreed. "Let's move out."

I jerked my head towards our original entrance. "If we go back down the way we came we can go through the doorway on the bottom floor and go straight out towards the main building."

Landon nodded. "Sounds good."

"We moving out?" Jarret asked.

"Yeah," Landon replied. "But don't let your guard down. Keep a watch down that hallway."

"Yes _sir_." Jarret replied with a sneer.

Landon and I rushed up to the doorway leading into the stairway while Jarret covered his hallway and Riley covered our hallway. As soon as we were in position we waved them over. I covered both hallways while Jarret and Riley sprinted to us. As soon as they reached us, they turned back around and covered both hallways. Good job, guys. You're acting like professionals.

Funny how it was the real professionals that had gotten killed so quickly.

I went up to the door, tucked my rifle in against my body, and reached for the handle. My hand would wrap around it in three…two…one…

"Shh!" Jarret hissed.

I stopped my hand from gripping the door's handle.

"What is it?" Riley asked.

"I hear something."

"What is it?" Landon asked. "It better be something important."

"It sounded like crying." Jarret explained.

I listened carefully in the darkness. I strained my ears to hear what Jarret was describing. Then I heard it: it was definitely crying. Soft weeping from a woman, coming from the closer doorway to our right.

"Shoul' we go see who it be?" Riley asked.

Landon looked over his shoulder. "How far away do you think it is, Jersey Shore?"

Jarret listened for another second. "Pretty close, asshole. Probably right behind the door."

"It's not that far," I said. "If we take a quick peek in the washrooms and classroom we can be in and out in under a minute." I stopped myself from pointing out that their exchange of words rhymed.

Landon nodded. "All right. Go with him."

I nodded. "Of course. Watch our asses."

"I'm not into that sort of thing."

Jarret got up and went to the door, keeping his weapon pointed to cover the doorway once it was opened. I snuck up to the door and wrapped my hand around the handle. No use having me go through on point when Jarret could create a better volume of fire with his machine gun. Landon and Riley took up position behind us and to the sides of the doorway to cover the hallways. Jarret nodded, signaling he was ready, and I pulled the door open for him. He went through the door and to the right to cover the washrooms. I stormed in after him and pointed my rifle dead ahead to the door leading into a classroom. Nothing. The door swung closed behind us.

"Where is it coming from?" I whispered.

"From here." Jarret said, pointing his flashlight to the closest washroom door. It needed to be pushed to be opened; we could just barge in one after the other.

"Your go," I said. "I'll cover you."

"Got it. Going in!"

Jarret slammed his body into the door and propped it open with his body. I switched my rifle to my left hand so I could shoot into the room and took up position beside him. As soon we brought our flashlights up, we were greeted with the scariest sight we had ever seen.

"Huh?" a surprised voice said from inside the darkness.

Our flashlights pierced into the darkened washroom. On the floor sat a female infected wearing tattered clothing, her body engulfed in the light from our flashlights, making her appear as clear as day. Her skin was a pale white with some patches of grey. Her deathly white hair fell in front of her face and stuck to it in some places. Her hands were formed into enormous claws, twice the size of a Hunter's. She looked directly at us, her glowing orange eyes brilliant and visible through the darkness and past the hair in front of her face. They were filled with anger. Of hatred. Of a desire to kill.

Us.

She let out a scream, a wall-shaking, soul-shattering wail that could have been torn from the throat of the nastiest banshee from Celtic mythology. She got up and rushed us, too quick for us to sight and gun down at this distance.

"Shit!" Jarret cried, his eyes as round as full moons. "Run!"

We barged out of the washroom and towards the doorway. I switched my weapon to my right hand and slammed through the door. I was surprised that it didn't get forced off it hinges with the force I put into it. Before it could swing closed, Jarret barreled out behind me. We ran as quickly as we could to our right, our feet hammering into the polished brick floors.

"What the hell?" Landon called after us.

"Infected coming!" I yelled. "Run!"

Landon and Riley got up and ran after us. We hopped over the corpses of the infected that Jarret and Riley had gunned down earlier and splashed through the puddles of blood forming below. I heard the infected scream as it pushed the door open. Its hands were outstretched to its sides as if it wanted to hug us, but I knew all it wanted to do was claw us to shreds. We wouldn't be able to run down the hallway Landon and I had covered; there were too many corpses and too much blood on the floor. My plan was to run down a bit into the hallway Jarret and Riley covered and set up a wall of fire for the infected woman to run into. If we got enough distance in between us and that female infected, we could cut her down with all of our weapons. The infected's scream pierced my ears as she pursued us. _Fuck_ she ran quickly. Jarret and I ran down the middle of the hallway; Landon was running close to the wall and classroom doors while Riley stuck close to the windows.

"Keep moving!" Jarret said as he shoved me from behind. I kept running for several meters then got ready to turn around and fire.

"Give her everything you got!" I called as I spun around, brining my 417 up. I didn't bother to get a good bead on the infected with my ACOG's crosshairs; at this distance it was easy enough to put my entire magazine into my target. Jarret spun around and took up position to my left, bringing his Mk.48 up. Landon, to Jarret's left, aimed his shotgun down the hallway while Riley stood to my right and got his 417 ready. We stood abreast, taking up the entire width of the hallway. She kept coming at us, her arms opened wide and to her sides so she could claw at us with savage force once she got in range. Her orange eyes came at us like charging freight trains. Her scream got louder, more intense. Her hatred and bloodlust only grew with every approaching step.

We opened fire. The 417 shuddered in my hands and its stock drove into my shoulder as I let loose with round after round into the charging infected. The bullets tore clothing and flesh from the infected's body, sending them flying in every direction with accompanying blood. Jarret's big gun filled the hallway with lead and earth-shattering bellows, his rounds climbing up the infected's legs, up her midsection, and up into her chest. My weapon climbed as well; I tried to walk my rounds up and score a few hits to her face and head. Landon fired shell after shell in quick succession at the charging infected, gorging out flesh with his buckshot rounds while Riley fired off the remainder of his 417's magazine, peppering her body and sending blood spraying all over the windows, ceiling, and floor. We started to walk backwards to give us some extra distance while we fired away. She kept coming at us as we fired away but got progressively slower as our gunfire took its toll on her.

_Die die die die die die die die die die!_

The last round left my 417's chamber and slammed into the infected's face as my friends emptied the remainder of their ammo into her body. The infected staggered and wailed as our rounds tore into her, blood sprayed from her fresh wounds and poured out in sick crimson waterfalls from earlier ones. She took one last staggered step, stopped, and fell to her knees. She looked up at us with her orange eyes in an almost thankful manner and let out one last moan. A second later, she collapsed face-first onto the floor, sending a splatter of blood out towards the walls and onto my boots and pants.

I breathed. Hard. My eyes were focused on the infected's corpse and I looked for any possible signs of life. She didn't move. At all. Good. I ejected my empty magazine, threw it into my left side pouch, and slammed the last full magazine from the pouch into my weapon and hit the bolt catch. I did a mental inventory of my spent magazines: two emptied, and one at fourteen rounds. Once I got the time I'd throw three full magazines from my bag into my vest to fill up. I spun around and shone my flashlight down the hallway to make sure nothing came up behind us. I was greeted with nothing but stillness and silence.

"Holy fuck." Jarret said.

"What da hell _was_ dat?" Riley asked as he reloaded his 417.

I kept my weapon trained down the hallway. "Whatever the fuck it was, it sure as hell took a lot of punishment before it went down!"

Landon laughed as he finished thumbing shells into his shotgun. "Never thought I'd see China Pants and the douchebag haul ass so quickly like that."

Jarret and I both shot him a drop-dead look.

Landon shook his head. "All joking aside, you guys startled a Witch. I heard there were some female infected that mutated like that but I didn't know they cried like people."

Jarret finished sliding a new box of ammunition into his Mk.48. "Well we'll know for next time."

"Next time there's crying, ignore it." Landon said.

I let out a deep breath. First we had Smokers and Hunters, then Boomers. Now we had Tanks and Witches to deal with. What was next, an infected with lasers built into its arms and a gatling gun embedded in its chest? Actually that would be pretty awesome as long as it didn't come after us…

Jarret's voice snapped me into my senses. "What say we just get our asses to our destination?"

Landon shrugged. "Fine by me."

With our reloading complete, the four of us moved out towards the stairwell. We stayed in the same position down the entire hallway and I turned around every so often to cover our rear.

"Hey China Pants!" Landon said as he walked over the dead Witch.

"What?" I replied, looking over my shoulder at him.

"There's some pussy for ya!" Landon said, jerking his head to the downed Witch. Jarret and Riley laughed. So did I.

"You're fucking hilarious, you know that, old man?"

When we reached the entrance of the room connecting the two hallways, Riley covered the hallway to our right, Jarret turned around and covered our rear, and Landon and I rushed up to the stairway door. Boomer flesh and blood were smeared all over the floor and walls but thankfully its smell wasn't around. The four of us took position at the door and I ripped it open for Landon. As usual, he scurried through the doorway, followed by Jarret, Riley, and finally myself. I made sure to be right on Riley's ass as he went through so I wasn't left alone in the darkened room of corpses and blood in case anything else came out to greet us. Luckily nothing did.

We trotted down the stairs, our flashlights piercing the darkness and covering every corner and wall. The sound of our footsteps shook the silence and stillness of the stairwell, but nothing took notice of us. After several seconds of descending, we reached the door leading into the first floor where we had originally planned to go in.

Landon shone his flashlight through the door's windows. I peered through the windows and looked around the darkened room with assistance from Landon's flashlight. Inside there were a number of infected roaming the room. They weren't here when we first arrived at the lab building; maybe they heard the commotion and came into the building to see what was disturbing them. Looking both ways past the door, I saw that there were quite a lot. I signaled Landon to lower his weapon.

"Lots of infected," I whispered. "I say we 'nade their asses."

"'Nade?" Landon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Short for grenade," I explained. "Sorry. Gamer talk."

Landon shook his head. "I thought for a moment you started picking up Riley's gangster talk. You goddamn kids and your hip-hop. Back in my day…"

"Back in your day music hadn't even been invented," I finished for him. "Regardless, I'll open the door and you toss a grenade each way to take those fuckers out. I'll give you one of mine."

"Let's take cover in the stairwell as soon as I toss it," Landon added. "Riles, cover our asses, 'kay?"

"Aight, foo."

"Ready?" I asked Landon. He nodded in reply after readying a grenade.

"Go!" I said as I pulled the door open. Landon chucked his grenade into the middle of the room, to the right of the doors. The infected didn't even notice us as we completed our task. Before the grenade landed on the polished brick floor, we bolted up the stairwell, Riley at the top to cover upwards, Jarret second, myself third, and Landon at the bottom by the corner of the stairwell. The infected only needed to push the door open in order to get at us and we weren't taking any chances. We would be well-covered from the grenade blasts and we counted down the seconds until they went off.

In a thumping _boom_, the grenade went off in the darkened room below. I didn't hear any snarls or hisses from the infected; they must have been shredded to bits by shrapnel so quickly that they couldn't voice any last expressions of pain. A second after the grenade went off we rushed back to the doorway. I pulled the door open and let Landon and Jarret through. Landon went straight for the far wall and left and let his shotgun go off several times to down some infected in his sector. Jarret opened up with his big gun and gunned down several infected to the right after dashing towards the far wall. Riley crashed through the doorway and turned left, adding a few rounds from his 417 into the mix.

Finally, I came through the door, switching my rifle to my left hand. I sighted the first infected with my red dot, putting the glowing red circle onto its upper chest. It was wearing full military gear, complete with body armor, tactical vest, knee and elbow pads, and a C7A1 rifle hanging by its sling by the infected's stomach. The infected had caught some shrapnel in the body, its vest shredded in places and tatters of cordura hanging from several places. It was also bleeding from shrapnel wounds to the legs and arms, but was still mobile. I pulled the trigger and caught the infected in the neck, sending a spray of blood out that showered the brick floor below. I shifted left and sighted the next closest infected, which was just coming out from the washrooms at the far wall. This one also wore full military gear, making its movements sluggish. I sent two quick rounds into its upper chest and neck area. The first round penetrated the infected's frag vest and the second tore into its neck. It went down in a snarl and ended up sprawled onto the floor by the washroom door. No other infected were in my sector.

"Clear!" Jarret called.

"Clear!" Landon acknowledged. Riley and I agreed as well.

I switched my weapon back to my right hand and surveyed the ravaged area. Several infected, probably a dozen or so, had been caught in the blast from the grenade that Landon threw. The shrapnel had torn them apart and sent blood and flesh in every direction, splattering the long couch and single seats at the far wall where the washrooms were. The bulletin board on the far wall had been blasted off of its mount and several recycling bins had been overturned and tossed aside. Jarret and I had gunned down an additional five infected, their corpses bleeding profusely onto the brick floor. The orange walls had been covered in blood and it dripped down in crimson trickles. Another dozen infected had been ripped up by the gunfire that Landon and Riley had put out when they entered the room and went to the left. Some of the windows on the far wall had been pierced by shrapnel and some glass shards littered the long L-shaped tabletop and barstool seats in front of them.

I looked out the window towards the main building which stood several meters away. Nothing outside took notice of our little killing spree. To think that our destination was so close filled me with a sense of confidence. Of hope. If things went as well as this, we'd make it out of this hellhole alive.

"Let's get going." Jarret said.

Landon nodded. "Form up on the door."

I rushed toward Landon's position while Jarret covered his hallway and Riley covered his. Landon came up to the doorway leading out to the left of the windows and tabletop and I got ready to open the door. Behind me I heard Jarret and Riley rush up to our positions. They turned back around and covered our rear towards the stairway entrance and hallways.

"Ready?" I asked Landon, my rifle slung to my body and my left hand wrapped around the push-bar for the door.

"You bet your yellow ass as I am."

"Let's go!" I said as I pushed the door open.


End file.
